Tuğrul Tarım, one of the leading exporters of raisin, benefits from the TOMRA technologies hundred percent in its grape processing facility and continues its facility investment with TOMRA’s innovative solution, the 5C sorting machine.
Founded in the 1960s for grape and cotton trade, Tuğrul Tarım started an initiative for producing raisin in 1994. Tuğrul Tarım continues its operations in Manisa which almost meets the entire dried grape production in Turkey and is one of the most important grape production centers in the world. Tuğrul Tarım, the second largest raisin exporter in Turkey, carries out production in its facility equipped only with TOMRA sensor based sorting machines. The company aims at improving the product quality by sorting foreign materials optimally and also increasing its production capacity with the purchase of TOMRA’s new 5C machine soon.
Tuğrul Tarım produces 35,000 to 40,000 tons of raisins every year in its facility located in Manisa Salihli with an area of 25,000 squaremeters outdoor and 40,000 square-meters indoors. The whole production is exported. Tuğrul Tarım offers 80 percent of its products as bulk products and markets 20 percent as packaged products. It offers tonnage products for Europe’s leading pastry, muesli and food producers, and packaged products for retail chains as private labels. Emre Tuğrul, General Manager of Tuğrul Tarım, stated that they mainly export to all European countries, particularly the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy, New Zealand and Australia and said, “Turkey is the world’s largest exporter of seedless raisin. Even though ranking second behind the USA in production, Turkey ranks first in export due to the high domestic market consumption of the USA and its low export volume. Grape product that has great importance in our country’s global trade and export is Sultana type raisin, of which almost 90 percent are grown in Manisa. Although production volume may vary due to climatic conditions, Turkey has a large share on a global scale with an average production of 300 thousand tons which equals 20 percent of the world’s average, while the 5-year average of the world’s raisin yield is around 1 million 300 thousand tons. An average of 260 thousand tons of this volume is exported. As Tuğrul Tarım, we export 10 to 15 percent of Turkey’s yield. We are the second largest exporter of raisins in Turkey. Having such an important responsibility, we do not compromise on innovation. Since 1996, we have been investing in our facility with TOMRA machines.”
Europe is the largest raisin market
Emre Tuğrul mentioned that 95 percent of grape export in Turkey are Sultana raisins and that raisins are exported to approximately 120 countries, particularly the United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands and Italy and said, “More than half of the total international trade of seedless raisin is made with European countries. Approximately 85% of Turkey’s export are made to European countries. The United Kingdom, Germany and Netherlands are the countries that Turkey mostly exports to. Raisin is among the most preferred product by European countries due to their wide usage area from pastry to muesli, benefits, affordable budget and easy access to all income levels.”
High quality expectation in export makes innovation and automation a requisite
Since 1996, Tuğrul Tarım has been carrying out its production operations with 5 unit TOMRA HELIUS and 2 unit TOMRA IXUS machines they have purchased. Lastly, Emre Tuğrul gave information about their investment in the TOMRA 5C machine and stated, “We are currently processing 100 tons of products per day. Compared to the traditional methods of the past, we were processing about 3 tons per hour, and now we can process 13 tons of products per hour on average with our TOMRA machines. Thanks to TOMRA technologies, our annual capacity is 45 thousand tons and our product quality has reached the optimum level. With the contribution of our TOMRA 5C machine, we will maintain our customer satisfaction.”
Tuğrul added, “While about 70-75% of seedless raisins produced globally are offered to international trade, the remaining is consumed in the domestic market of the producer countries. With the addition of 750-850 thousand tons that are traded internationally to the 250-350 thousand tons offered to the domestic consumption of the producer countries, the total world consumption of seedless raisins is around 1,200-1,300 thousand tons. The fact that Turkey is the largest exporter in the global framework shows that automation is an obligation.”
The TOMRA 5C offers the latest technologies to make sorting more efficient, more effective and cost-effective. This special sorting machine addresses the biggest challenges faced by the dried fruit and nut industry: labor, food safety, production capacity, and product quality. The TOMRA 5C allows operators to sort foreign materials and quality defects with a level of success that previously wasn’t possible. This enables the processing of the highest pack-to-grade product quality in high quantities while minimizing labor.
There is no place for food waste in grapes
Emre Tuğrul stated that they have experienced the advantages of TOMRA machines in terms of product quality and food waste for many years and added, “We obtain high quality products that will satisfy our meticulous customers. In the tests we have performed with TOMRA 5C, we observed that the machine delivered a high performance in sorting foreign materials such as plastic and stone that create problems for grapes. Besides, no product is wasted. Thanks to the performance of our sorting machines, we do not waste low quality outputs and offer them for alternative uses such as molasses, vinegar and alcohol.”
Based on our product quality we continue our long-term cooperations
Emre Tuğrul emphasized that as Tuğrul Tarım, they are selective in their cooperations as much as their customers and said, “We have succeeded in establishing long-term cooperations with the leading customers in their fields in Europe. In addition to the mutual balance of supply and demand, we also are meticulous about our third-party business partners. TOMRA has been our solution partner for 25 years. We are very satisfied not only with their machines and technologies, but also with their after sales services and fast support. This satisfaction is reflected in our purchasing decisions. We only use TOMRA machines in our facility. As we use world’s leading optical sorting machines, we also win the appreciation of our customers.”
TOMRA 5C machine delivers the quality expected of export products
Ahmet Koçyiğit, TOMRA Food Turkey Sales Manager, explained, “While the annual average total export of seedless raisins in Turkey is 260 thousand tons, our domestic consumption is around 40 thousand tons. This means that only 10 to 15 percent of our total production is offered to our domestic consumption and the rest is exported. The sorting of foreign materials is very important in the processing of raisin, which is important export product for Turkey. Therefore, we highly recommend our new TOMRA 5C machine to dried fruit and grape producers. Designed considering processors and operators, TOMRA 5C is TOMRA Food’s new generation technology that meets expectations at the highest level.”
Ahmet Koçyiğit highlighted that the TOMRA 5C combines industry-leading sensor technologies with big data analytics to ensure each product and all foreign materials are displayed clearly and said, “Latest generation and high-resolution lasers enable foreign materials and challenging defects such as broken petiole, unripe grape, rot and burlap rope to be graded with the lowest amount of waste as desired. It helps the team to make real time decisions for higher profitability, high quality end products and equipment to pay off faster. Beside operating like an online analysis machine, TOMRA 5C offers the best technology on the market and acts as an investment in the successful future of the operation thanks to its open design for future software and hardware upgrades.”
Easy-to-use TOMRA 5C is designed for the needs of growth targets to operate with 30 percent more capacity. The consistent performance and unique built of TOMRA 5C ensure higher quality sorting results, simplified cleaning processes, greater accessibility and state-of-the-art food safety.
