BBM Magazine Issue-Sayı: 46 September/October - Eylül/Ekim 2021

62 INTERVIEW • RÖPORTAJ BBM / EYLÜL - EKİM 2021 • SEPTEMBER - October 2021 pion Turkish flour industrialist affected in this process? The pandemic brought with it the biggest demand shock the world economy has seen since World War II. According to the World Bank, the world economy shrank by 3.6% in 2020. The tourism, transportation and retail sectors were severely affected. However, if we exclude the HORECA (hotel, restaurant, cafe) segment, there has not been a significant decrease in wheat flour demand in the world and in Turkey, as it is a staple food. In fact, in the early stages of the pandemic, we encountered a very intense demand for flour both from within the country and from abroad. I believe that our industry, which is of- ten unfairly scapegoated during this period, has passed this test successfully. Many flour industrialists, especially Kavukçu, made a commitment not to increase prices for a certain period of time and took a responsible stance. I think this is the best proof that our industry neither has a reflex to raise money unless there are unbearable in- creases in basic input costs, nor does it have the oppor- tunity due to intense competition in the industry. CONTAINER CRISIS AFFECTS FLOUR EXPORTS The panic demand experienced at the beginning of the pandemic returned to normal in the following months. As I mentioned above, I think that there may have been a 10% - 15% decrease in the general flour consumption of our country in 2020 due to the shrinkage in HORECA. We did not encounter a serious decrease in demand in our export markets during the pandemic. However, the biggest problem for the exports was the container crisis, which started in the last quarter of 2020 and continues today by getting worse. There were unprecedented and sudden increases in container freights. In addition to the price increases, the supply of containers was also a big problem. Lines started not accepting freight indepen- dent of price and shutting down service. Unfortunately, this troubling situation I mentioned still continues and our 2021 wheat flour export may therefore be completed at a lower level than the previous year. If we want Turkey to reach its export target of 500 bil- lion USD, one of the strategic steps we need to take is to keep the container transport sector of our state un- der close watch and to implement a national line that will break the oligopolistic structure in the sector as soon as possible. IDLE CAPACITY PROBLEM A few years ago, flour production was carried out in over 700 plants in Turkey. But a consolidation process has begun. Today that number has dropped below 500. But still the installed capacity is twice the need. Almost half of the production capacity is idle. How can Sn. Kaşıkçı, siz hem Türkiye’yi hem dünya piyasa- larını yakından takip ediyorsunuz. Koronavirüs sal- gını ekonomilerde çok yönlü değişikliklere yol açtı. Peki bu süreçte dünya ihracat şampiyonu Türk un sanayicisinin yurt dışı satışları nasıl etkilendi? Pandemi, II. Dünya Savaşı’ndan beri dünya ekono- misinin gördüğü en büyük talep şokunu beraberin- de getirdi. Dünya Bankası’na göre dünya ekonomisi 2020 yılında %3,6 oranında küçüldü. Turizm, ulaşım ve perakende sektörleri çok ciddi etkilendi. Bununla beraber –HORECA (otel, restaurant, cafe) segmentini hariç tutarsak-, bir temel gıda maddesi olması nede- niyle dünyada ve Türkiye’de buğday unu talebinde çok ciddi bir düşüş görülmedi. Hatta pandeminin ilk dönemlerinde gerek yurt içinden gerekse yurt dışın- dan çok yoğun bir un talebi ile karşılaştık. Ben bu dö- nemde çoğu zaman haksız bir şekilde günah keçisi ilan edilen sektörümüzün çok başarılı bir sınav verdi- ğine inanıyorum. Kavukçu başta olmak üzere birçok un sanayicimiz o dönemde belirli bir süre fiyat artır- mama taahhüdünde bulundu, sorumlu bir duruş ser- giledi. Bu da sektörümüzün temel girdi maliyetlerinde katlanılamayacak artışlar olmadıkça zam yapmak gibi bir refleksinin de, sektördeki yoğun rekabet nedeniy- le imkanının da olmadığının en güzel ispatıydı diye düşünüyorum. KONTEYNER KRİZİ UN İHRACATINI ETKİLİYOR Pandeminin başında yaşanan panik talebi, takip