Chairman of TİM, Gültepe: Aiming for a Bold Leap in Food and Agricultural Exports, Targeting $50 Billion by 2028
Mustafa Gültepe, Chairman of TİM: If we can efficiently process and utilize our agricultural areas, we can both provide consumers with access to abundant, high quality and cheap food and bring much more foreign currency to our country through exports.
Mustafa Gültepe, Chairman of the Türkiye Exporters Assembly (TİM), reported that they aim to increase Turkiye's exports of food and agricultural products, which currently stand at 27 billion dollars, to 50 billion dollars by 2028.
Against the backdrop of the ongoing hazelnut harvest season, the TİM Agriculture Board convened its August meeting in Giresun. Mustafa Gültepe, in his opening address, resounded Türkiye's ambitious target of achieving $400 billion in goods and $200 billion in service exports by 2028. Gültepe emphasized the paramount role of 27 sectors, each contributing to the maximum extent, to realize this formidable goal, stating:
"Among our domains of export prowess, food and agriculture hold a prominent status. We boast extensive experience, a diverse array of products, and a cutting-edge industrial infrastructure enriched with advanced technology and robust production capabilities. In light of global climatic shifts, the global significance of food and agricultural commodities escalates annually. This warrants our transformation of this edge into a national opportunity. By adeptly harnessing and optimizing our existing agricultural expanses, we can deliver a bounteous, top-tier, and affordable food supply to consumers while bolstering our nation's foreign currency reserves through exports. Aiming for the $400 billion mark in 2028, I firmly believe that our food and agriculture sector will play an exceedingly critical role. In the year 2022, we successfully exported approximately $27 billion worth of food and agricultural products. Looking ahead to 2028, our resolute aim is to elevate our food and agriculture exports to an impressive $50 billion. Our entire array of projections and endeavors align unwaveringly with this resolute objective."
Gültepe concluded his discourse, highlighting the choice of Giresun for convening the TİM Agricultural Board due to the ongoing hazelnut harvest season:
"Hazelnuts stand tall as one of our nation's most cherished agricultural treasures. Remarkably, we account for around 70 percent of the global hazelnut production. In 2022, our hazelnut exports surged to 313,000 tons, generating an impressive $1.75 billion in revenue for our country. The latent potential within the hazelnut sector is evidently immense."
MELİSA TOKGÖZ MUTLU: A FORCEFUL RESONANCE İN AGRİCULTURE AND AGRİCULTURE-BASED INDUSTRİES
Melisa Tokgöz Mutlu, the Chairperson of the TİM Agriculture Board, accentuated the burgeoning significance of agriculture and food in shaping the world's dynamics. With this recognition in mind, Mutlu expounded:
"Agriculture stands at the pinnacle among our sectors, consistently registering a surplus in the current account. As Turkiye, our agricultural production and agriculture-based industry stand as formidable pillars of strength. In addition to our existing agricultural production potential, we have the advantage of being customer-based and demand-oriented. Our geographic positioning further augments our advantages, particularly within Europe, boasting a population with substantial purchasing potential. There is no country in the region with such a large capacity and high-tech production infrastructure as we have. During crisis periods such as pandemics and wars, we have harnessed the advantages of our geographical location to our benefit. The pivotal next step involves further enhancing these advantages by keenly observing the evolving demands in the global landscape and aligning our production accordingly."