* As one of the fruit juice producers of Turkey, Famen will start producing canned drinks to grow further.
Enetering the beverage sector with Viva brand, Famen will start producing new products in the next period. Pointing out that they widened their production facility for new products and renewed their machine park, Famen General Manager Yusuf Karci said that they would increase their current volume of 20 tons to 35 tons with the new products. Karci said they had planned to ship more products to African region in general and Libyan market in particular. He answered the questions of FOOD TURKEY:
How did you start fruit juice production? Which brands do you have in the sector now?
We are producing only fruit juice now. We entered the sector with Viva brand and later we offered our Cici brand. We will launch one or two more soon. Later, we will start producing fizzy drinks and canned group. We will offer ice tea, soda water and energy drinks to the market. The most important thing for us is our production facilities. We enlarged our facilities and established a new machine park for these new products. Right now we are producing 20 thousand parcels of fruit juice daily. This will be up to 35 thousand parcels with the production of fuzzy drinks and canned products.
Where do you export?
We have been shipping to countries like Iraq, Romania, Persian Gulf, Syria and Ghana. We sell 80% of our products in domestic market and export the balance of 20%. With the new products we will increase both our domestic sales and exports
We have new plans especially for exports in the coming period. We are set to ship more products to African countries. Libya is an important market for us. We want to be more active in this market. I can say that we target the countries which have political conflicts with Turkey. Russia is also a good market for our sector. We want to be efficient in this market as well. Our major problem is freight costs. If we overcome this problem we will export more. There are some terror problems in some Middle Eastern countries. These problems have naturally affected us negatively.
Can you comment about fairs about their plus and minus sides?
We consider the sector fairs very important. We go to all fairs either as an exhibitor or visitor. We meet either existing or prospective clients at these platforms. Most of the cases result with shipping products to international markets. We will show up at Antalya fair in the coming period.
Can you furnish us about your production facilities?
Our existing product is an exclusive one. So, it necessitates having a hygienic, clean and suitable production line with rules. We made our studies at this regard. We already have a hygienic production line. All processes of these products have been prepared according to industrial products and they are from stainless chrome group and they needed to be renewed constantly. We are continuing our works related to these. We have been regularly making maintenance works and we are making our tests more technologic by purchasing new equipment.
Can you evaluate Turkey’s position in the world beverage sector?
The fruit juice consumption per person in Europe is around 10-12 liters. It is around 3 liters in Turkey. People have to be trained at this regard and they should be tended to consume healthy products. Turkey has the best quality fruits in the world and we should take the benefit of this advantage.
