Turkey is
the 10th largest producer of poultry meat in the world. Earlier this
year, Mark Clements spoke to Dr. Sait Koca, president of Turkey’s Poultry Meat
Producers and Breeders Association (BESD-BIR), to find out what’s happening in
the Turkish poultry meat industry.
CLEMENTS: How has the Turkish poultry industry been
performing?
KOCA: There is strong momentum in the poultry
industry at the moment. In 2014, the sector performed above expectations,
recording an expansion of 8.8 percent, outstripping the Turkish economy as a
whole, which grew by 2.9 percent. NInety-three percent of the sector’s production is now broiler
meat.
The
industry adopted the integrated production model in the 1990s, and this boosted
growth. Many production premises in Turkey are relatively new and
technologically advanced when compared to other countries. The industry is
regulated, inspected, and subject to the rigorous application of international
food standards.
Where
turkey meat is concerned, we’ve not seen the same high level of growth, but
since 2005, the same integrated model used in chicken production has been
applied to turkey production, and this has resulted in growth.
As far as
poultry meat consumption is concerned, it has also grown enormously since the
1990s, and we are now at similar levels to more developed countries. In 2014, overall
meat consumption stood at 34.9 kg per person. There are targets to 2030, that
poultry meat consumption will stand at 29.6 kg per person, and beef will be 15.5
kg per person, making a total of 45.1 kg.
CLEMENTS: Could you tell us more about the home market?
KOCA: Demand on the home market is almost
exclusively for fresh meat – sales of frozen chicken are practically zero. The
structure is in place right across the country to supply fresh chicken, as this
all that people want.
Sales of
whole chickens now account for 40 percent of the market, while cuts account for
60 percent, and the amount of processed chicken meat sold in the country is
growing year on year. We don’t only cut up into a few different portions, we do
a lot more, for example shish meat, on the bone, deboned, skinless, with skin,
and so on.
And all
poultry meat sold in Turkey is now packaged. This is a situation that has
undergone change over recent years. Up until two years ago, all poultry meat
sold in Turkey had to be sold packaged, and then this rule was overturned, only
to be reintroduced earlier this year when the government realized that hygiene
could be compromised.
CLEMENTS: Has this lack of stability not caused problems
for the sector?
KOCA: No, not at all. When the requirement for
packaging was removed, the industry continued to sell its good packaged, if for
no other reason than consumers had become accustomed to it. The only negative
aspect could have been that a few companies that had always failed to package
their chicken products gained some temporary relief.
But there
are a number of other issues that need to be overcome. For example, we can no
longer sell mechanically removed meat on the home market and this really needs
to be changed. Animal byproduct use will be prohibited at the end of this
year, and we really don’t know what will happen to rendering products as there
is no infrastructure in place to cope with this change.
Our
biosafety regulations need to be harmonized with those of the European Union,
and we also need to improve consumer education.
Additionally,
in Turkish society, meat consumption is not has high as it could be. There are
restrictions on red meat consumption. Since we are a Muslim country there can
be no pig meat, so poultry is the main meat. There remains a deficit in meat
production in the country, and this deficit can only be made up by poultry
meat.
CLEMENTS: Turkish poultry meat exports have been
growing. Which are your key markets?
KOCA: Turkey’s poultry meat exports have been growing.
In 2014, we exported 431,000 tons, with a value of US$700 million, a
significant increase from 2010 when exports were worth US$230 million.
Our share
of global trade is 3 percent and we currently rank as the sixth largest
exporter in the world. Our aim, however, is to take third position. To help
achieve this, in 2011 we established a poultry products promotion group to help
boost exports.
The
European Union is an important target market for us, but we still do not have
permission to export there. Other
important target markets are Japan, Pakistan, China and the Philippines. Iraq
currently accounts for more than half our exports.
Iraq is our
key destination and a there are a number of reasons for this. The country is,
of course, a neighbor, and a fellow Muslim nation, and the quality of Turkish
brands is recognized there. Iraqis come and they buy small amounts of our
chicken meat, but they do it frequently, so the total mounts up.
We sell to
a number of Far Eastern countries, but not directly to China, but what we think
is happening is that our product, particularly legs and paws, is being repacked
in Asia and sold into China.
That Turkish
products of animal origin are not sold directly to China, and this represents
an economic loss for the two countries. Interministerial correspondence is
ongoing, and if they open the door to direct trade, then there will be extra
business.
CLEMENTS: and what about trade with Russia?
KOCA: Russia! Trade with Russia is worse than ever. Our export target for this year where Russia is concerned had been 150,000
tons, but now we are expecting it to be only 15,000 tons.
Prior to
the European Union embargo we had some trade with Russia, and once the embargo
was imposed our exports jumped to 7,000 tons a month, but this has now fallen
back to 1,000 tons a month.
We were
exporting mainly mechanically separated meat, and they were using it for
sausage and salami production, but now even these products are unaffordable in
Russia.
CLEMENTS: Has political instability in the region
affected the Turkish poultry industry?
KOCA: Political instability is not currently having
an impact on Turkish poultry production. For example, with Syria, we are still
able to export 20,000 tons of meat, despite the problems. However, when ISIS
conducted its first operations in the country, our trade route was interrupted
for a month or so, but we managed to find another route.
Since some
of our exports are frozen, there is time to overcome this sort of problem, but
if transport had been further delayed, the situation would not have been so
good, so we had to find an alternative route.
CLEMENTS: Where will the industry be in five years time?
We have
projections and targets, and we are hoping for 5-6 percent growth per annum,
and this is despite the problems that we have and a lack of government help –
if we had the support of the government, growth could be even higher. If the government
and industry were truly aligned, then the sector could really go much higher.