BBM Magazine Issue-Sayı: 26 May/June - Mayıs/Haziran 2018

INTERVIEW • RÖPORTAJ 35 BBM / MAYIS-HAZİRAN 2018 • MAY-JUNE 2018 bread to 200 grams has caused significant problems in the market. Below cost pricing was the main reason for that decision. The cost for a bread of 250 grams was 0.95 liras because of recent price hikes for raw material as well as rent and labor cost increases. The weight of bread has decreased to 200 grams and costs were also decreased from 0.95 liras to 0.75 liras. What do you think about Halk Ekmek (Public Bread) factories that are continuously growing in number and production capacity? First of all my point of view is that: Municipalities and mayors should not compete with their own tradesmen and citizens. Municipalities are responsible from urban planning, cleaning and infrastructure. They are not re- sponsible of trade. It is an improper practice for a mu- nicipality to establish a ‘public bread’ factory and com- pete with bakers of the city. Turkish Bread Manufacturers Federation is against ‘public bread’ factories. Why? Be- cause, those companies sell 200-300 thousand loaves of bread a day for 0.75 liras without making profit and they threaten bakers’ job. Municipalities claim that their aim is to support poor citi- zens with public bread factories. But Turkish Bread Manu- facturers Federation has already launched a social respon- sibility campaign called ‘pending bread.’ We have identified poor citizens and distributed ration cards. I am calling on all mayors to identify poor dwellers among their communi- ties and encourage them to obtain their ration cards. Poor citizens are welcomed to get free bread from bakeries. SYRIAN PRODUCERS ARE A SOURCE OF UNFAIR COMPETITION There are also Syrian players in the sector. Syrian lavash is being widely produced especially in some South Eastern and Mediterranean cities. How do these activities affect the sector? Syrian refugees have been active in Turkish bakery sector since they arrived in Turkey. They are produc- ing a kind of lavash bread called ‘Syrian lavash’. We call this bread ‘Syrian lavash’. But when we ask them, they call it as “traveler bread”. We do not have a price tariff for Syrian bread or passenger bread in Turkey. Still, nearly 9 million Syrian loaves of bread are pro- duced in Turkey. They are so widespread that, there is also unfair competition among them. We receive many complaints about this. Therefore we established Syrian Bread Producers Associations in provinces like Mar- din, Gaziantep, İstanbul and Yalova. We have gathered them under the roof of Turkish Bread Manufacturers Federation. We try to help them to solve their prob- lems by institutionalizing their associations and involv- ing them under the roof of our federation. belediye başkanlarımıza sesleniyorum; Bölgeniz ve ma- hallelerinizde ne kadar yoksul vatandaşımız varsa tespitini yaparak, o bölgedeki fırınlarımızdan askıda ekmek kartı almalarını sağlayanı. Böylece dar gelirli vatandaşlarımız askıda ekmek kampanyamızdan faydalanabilir. SURİYELİ ÜRETİCİLER HAKSIZ REKABETE YOL AÇIYOR Murat Bey bir de Suriyeli işletmeler var. Suriye lava- şının özellikle Güneydoğu illeri ve bazı Akdeniz illerin- de yaygın olarak üretilmesi sektörü nasıl etkiliyor? Suriyeliler Türkiye’ye geldikleri günden itibaren fırıncılık sektörüne girdiler. Suriye lavaşı ekmeği adı altında bir çe- şit lavaş ekmeği üretiliyor. Biz şu anda bu ekmeği Suriye lavaşı adıyla anıyoruz. Fakat onlara sorduğumuzda bu- nun adı yolcu ekmeği olarak biliniyor. Bunun Türkiye’deki ekmek tarifesinde Suriye ekmeği veya yolcu ekmeği adı altında herhangi bir fiyat tarifesi mevcut değil. Ancak şu anda Türkiye’de 9 milyona yakın Suriye ekmeği üretiliyor. Üretim o kadar arttı ki Türkiye’de Suriyeliler kendi arala- rında haksız rekabet yapacak seviyeye ulaştılar. Bu ko- nuda bize çok sayıda şikayet geliyor. Bu yüzden Mardin, Gaziantep, İstanbul ve Yalova gibi illerimizde Suriye ek- mek üreticileri birlikleri kurduk. Bu birlikleri Türkiye Ekmek Üreticileri Federasyonu çatısı altında bir araya getirdik. Bu birlikleri kurumsallaştırarak ve kendi bünyemize dahil ede- rek kamu kurum ve kuruluşlar ile sorunlarını çözmesine yardımcı oluyoruz. Biz 5 yıla yakın süredir Suriye ekmeği ile ilgili çalışma- lar yürütüyoruz. Suriyeli firmalar Gaziantep, Nizip, Hatay, Mersin, Adana, Ankara, İstanbul, Kocaeli ve Urfa olmak