BBM Magazine Issue-Sayı: 56 September - Eylül 2022

58 INTERVIEW • RÖPORTAJ BBM / EYLÜL 2022 • SEPTEMBER 2022 Can you tell us about Turkey's place in the world pasta market? What do you think about the export markets of the Turkish Pasta Industry? Our industry's exports, which started with 13 tons in 1970, have approached 1.5 million tons today. The continuity of our production and exports depends on the supply of homoge- neous and affordable raw materials with the desired quality, quantity, and standard. The territory of our country has the po- tential to meet our raw material needs for both the domestic market and export. Our durum wheat production is sufficient to meet almost all the needs of domestic market demand and exports. Domestic consumption has also increased over the years, and we are among the top 10 countries that consume the most pasta in the world. What would you say about the image of Turkish Pasta in the world? Pasta is a semi-ready food product obtained by mixing sem- olina, a durum wheat product, with water and giving desired shapes and drying. The quality of pasta is directly affected by the quality of du- rum wheat from which semolina is produced. The world's best quality wheat is produced in Anatolia, the gene center of durum wheat. The Turkish pasta industry makes production in state-of- the-art factories. The quality of durum wheat produced in Ana- tolia, the homeland of wheat, is recognized and accepted all over the world. The quality of durum wheat and technological production has brought our country's pasta to the fore with its quality and increased its sales on a global scale. Besides, our members have been able to produce special products by focusing on R&D studies in recent years and have started to take the lead in the competition. Turkey ranks second in pasta export in terms of volume, whereas it ranks fourth in terms of income. Although Turkey ranks first in pasta production, why does it have a low share in exports? According to the Trademap data for 2021, the anti-dumping and compensatory measures implemented by the USA, which realizes 9.9% of global imports, and a 20 thousand-ton quota enforced on our country's pasta export by EU countries that realize 27.4% of global imports, are among the main problems of our industry. The pasta tariff quota should definitely be put on the agenda by the Ministry of Commerce in the "Updating Customs Union between Turkey and European Union" negotiations. Within this frame, our industry has given the information to the General Di- rectorate of Exports of Turkey's Ministry of Commerce, primarily to carry out the necessary studies to remove the EU quotas or to increase the quotas, and has taken the necessary initiatives. In short, although the Turkish pasta industry has almost no Türkiye’nin dünya makarna pazarındaki yerini bize anla- tır mısınız? Türk Makarna Sektörünün ihracat pazarları hak- kındaki düşünceleriniz nelerdir? Sektörümüzün 1970 yılında 13 ton ile başladığı ihracat bu- gün 1,5 milyon tona yaklaşmıştır. Üretimimizin ve ihracatımı- zın devamlılığı, istenilen kalite, miktar ve standartta, homo- jen ve uygun fiyatta hammadde teminine bağlıdır. Ülkemiz toprakları iç piyasaya ve ihracata yönelik hammadde ihtiya- cımızı karşılayacak potansiyele sahiptir. Makarnalık buğday üretimimiz iç piyasa talebinin tamamı ile ihracatımızın he- men hemen tüm ihtiyacını karşılayacak seviyededir. Yurt içi tüketim de yıllar içerisinde artış göstermiş olup, dünyada en fazla makarna tüketen ilk 10 ülke arasına girmiş durumdayız. Türk Makarnasının dünyadaki imajı ile ilgili neler söylemek istersiniz? Makarna; makarnalık buğdaydan elde edilen irmiğin su ile karıştırılması ve istenilen biçimler verilip kurutulması suretiyle elde edilen yarı hazır gıda maddesidir.