Turkish poultry industry forecasts continued growth

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.

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Dr. Sait Loca, president of Turkey’s Poultry Meat and Breeders Association (BESD-BIR), spoke this year at the Third International Poultry Meat Congress.
Dr. Sait Loca, president of Turkey’s Poultry Meat and Breeders Association (BESD-BIR), spoke this year at the Third International Poultry Meat Congress.

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. 

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