Miller Magazine Issue: 156 December 2022

68 COVER STORY MILLER / DECEMBER 2022 The giant meeting of the grain and flour industry held in Konya reassured the industry. The “Sectoral Outlook and Expectations After the 2022 Harvest Season” meeting, organized within the scope of the Extended Industrial Meeting of the Association of Central Anatolian Flour Industrialists and supported by the Min- istry of Agriculture and Forestry, Turkish Grain Board (TMO) and the Turkish Flour Industrialists’ Federation (TFIF) X-rayed Türki- ye’s grain harvest, so to speak. The risks threatening food security, what needs to be done to increase wheat production in Turkey and the future of the Turkish flour industry were discussed. The grain industry, which has been experiencing hard times around the world due to the climate crisis, pandemic and the war that has been going on for months between Russia and Ukraine, was reassured with the measures taken by the government. In particular, TMO General Manager Ahmet Güldal, who followed the meeting with inter- est from the beginning to the end, took notes and gave the message “We are with you” to the sector, assured the sector representatives. Güldal stated that they met with all the stakeholders of the sector frequently in this challenging process and gave a suc- cessful test thanks to the measures they took in line with their demands and suggestions, and noted that after a very success- ful harvest season, they created a large stock especially in the domestic market and they took measures to make the sector comfortable in the coming period. Ahmet Güldal’s statement that the wheat purchase price, which is above the world prices, and premium support they put into practice this year will continue in the coming years was interpreted as the farmer will come back to wheat production. Three successive presidents of the Turkish Flour Industrialists’ Federation came together at the same time sitting on the pan- elist chair at the session “Current Situation of the Industry and Global Problems”, which was one of the most popular sessions of the meeting. Erhan Özmen, one of the first presidents of TFIF, his successor Eren Günhan Ulusoy and Haluk Tezcan, the pres- ident-in-office, made sobering evaluations regarding the sector. The three presidents made recommendations for the sector and drew attention to the measures that the government should take. TFIF President Haluk Tezcan said, “As flour industrialists, we have been the export leader in the world for the last 9 years, with the support of our state and related institutions. While per- “A recipe for the sector emerged in the Final Declaration of the “Extended Sector Meet- ing” of the Association of Central Anatolian Flour Industrialists (OAUSD), which brought together all the stakeholders of the sector. Very important suggestions are attracting at- tention in the final declaration, in which many subjects are included in detail such as in- creasing wheat cultivation areas, breeding new seeds suitable for climate change, pre- mium supports for products, consolidation of agricultural lands, Türkiye’s flour export leadership, the diversity of export markets, TMO’s wheat stock and flour regulation.” The state of the Turkish grain and milling industry Mustafa Yağmurlu Editor