Miller Magazine Issue: 156 December 2022

as self-sufficient in this sector. The same issue is also in question in Foreign Trade of Wheat and Products, which has foreign trade surplus. Moreover, although wheat production in our country generally meets its domestic consumption, except for extreme years, a certain amount of wheat is imported every year in order to process wheat and export it as a finished product within the scope of the Inward Processing Regime (With the fact that it is the first country in the world in flour and bulgur export and the sec- ond country in pasta export, 7-8 million tons of wheat is imported providing it is exported). However, considering the global crises, it was emphasized that it is clear that it is necessary to work on meeting this within the country, and that this target seems to be feasible to a certain extent with the other proposals in the final declaration for increasing the wheat cultivation areas. With the lightening of the pandemic burden and the effect of the fertile harvest period, world wheat prices, which was already in a decline trend, started to decline more rapidly with the Grain Corridor deal. As a matter of fact, bread wheat prices, which had increased to 450 dollars per ton, decreased to 320 dollars. Simi- lar downward trends are observed in some other food products. It has been evaluated that it has positive contributions to the ag- ricultural sector and flour sector of our country in terms of raw material supply at affordable prices. Türkiye’s role on a global scale in the Grain Corridor deal was highlighted and the follow- ing information was given: “This situation is a decisive diplomatic victory of Turkey, which took place in front of the eyes of the world, and a seal on world food security. It is an initiative that will relieve the world about staple foods and will give a breathe a sigh of relief. It is a beacon of hope offered to societies suffering from famine in Africa. This deal may bring other programs to the agenda, perhaps by evolving into an energy corridor following the grain corridor, and paving the way for a development that will save the world from the energy shortage. It is likely that it will lead to a permanent ceasefire and trigger diplomatic efforts.” It was emphasized that the number of licensed warehouse operators in Türkiye reached 164 and the warehouse capacity reached 8.6 m t. It was stated that this development provides different supports and exemptions to producers, licensed ware- house investors and investors, as well as it brought many bene- fits such as the registration of products, stock control and track- ing, ensuring the healthy preservation of products by being in qualified warehouses, maintaining quality, the ease of analysis and classification by quality in meeting commercial value and demands, opportunity to be sold electronically through TURİB (Türkiye Commodity Exchange), avoidance of unnecessary trans- portation, the farmer’s ability to sell his product at the price it de- serves and to access financing under favorable conditions. The satisfaction that the cooperation of the Ministry of Com- merce, the relevant units of the Ministry of Agriculture and For- estry and the sector regarding licensed warehouses provides the opportunity to take quick decisions and implement the leg- islation and regulations was mentioned. It was stated that many regulations were put into practice in this scope. Considering that the active capacity of the licensed Warehouse Operators was only 8.6 m t although they have obtained permits of around 16 m t, the necessity of rapidly increasing the active capacities to 10 million tons in the first place was emphasized. Considering that a limited number of products are stored in licensed warehouses, it was stated that the product variety must be increased in line with the increasing warehouse capacity. The significance of performing analysis in licensed warehous- ing in a qualified and independent manner was mentioned, and it was recommended to update the Authorized Classifier fee schedule, considering the fact that the Authorized Classifier anal- ysis fee is collected through MKS (Central Registration System) and the fact that the fee scale’s fixedness over the years has brought about significant problems. In addition, it was requested to update the fee scales for the support and exemptions applied for licensed warehouses and to extend their duration. It was stated that a periodic convening of the committee, which will consist of all sector stakeholders regarding all issues related to licensed warehouses and the arrangements to be made, will contribute to healthy development. It was determined that the developments in TÜRİB continue at a pace in parallel with the developments in licensed warehous- 71 MILLER / DECEMBER 2022 COVER STORY