Pasta firms enjoy strong foreign demand

ISTANBUL

Local pasta manufacturers have enjoyed strong external demand for their products this year as their exports rose 9 percent to $252 million in the first five months of 2019.

“Our export revenues stood at around $230 million in the same period of last year. We have met our 9 percent growth target for exports,” said Abdülkadir Külahçıoğlu, the board chairman of the Pasta Industrialists’ Association of Turkey.

In January-May, pasta exports in terms of volume also exhibited a 7 percent increase on an annual basis to reach 538, 824 tons.

In 2018, local companies sold over 1.2 million tons of past to foreign companies and this year’s target is a 15 percent growth in exports, according to Külahçıoğlu.

He also said that the local pasta industry is working to diversify its export markets.

“We shipped our products to 154 countries across the globe but this number has increased to 160 as we added new territories, such as Ivory Coast, Polynesia, Mayotte, Peru and the Dominican Republic to our portfolio.”

According to Külahçoğlu, local companies shipped around 700 tons of pasta to the newly-added six export markets in the first five months of the year.

“The local industry has been growing each year. We manage to maintain our presence in the markets we discover and enter. We want to keep that momentum next year.”

There are 24 pasta manufacturers in the local market whose size is estimated to be $1 billion, he said.

“The industry provides some 40,000 jobs directly or indirectly.”

Külahçıoğlu noted that domestic consumption has also been on the rise.

“Turkey used to rank 18th in the world in terms of consumption, but moved up the ladder to claim the eighth spot. Per capital pasta consumption is now 8 kilograms. Out of home pasta eating has dramatically increased,” he said.