Konya to be site of new Algida plant

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Algida prepares to invest $100 million in a model ice cream factory in Konya, Turkey to export ice cream to Europe. Hürriyet photo

Unilever’s Algida label is planning to invest $100 million in an ice cream production facility to be located in the province of Konya in the heart of Turkey’s central Anatolian region, according to the Hürriyet daily. The factory is expected to speed up Algida’s ice cream exports to Europe.

“The Konya factory will be a model for all of Unilever’s other investments. Exports will increase,” said Unilever Turkey’s vice president of food marketing, Mustafa Seçkin.

The factory will cover 300,000 square meters, the equivalent of 46 football fields, and is expected to employ 295 people. The factory will be designed in an ecologically friendly way. Seçkin said that since 1990, per capita ice cream consumption has increased 13-fold.

Algida plans to grow its business both in Turkey and abroad by increasing exports to Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It currently exports to 16 countries.

“Turkey is not allowed to export milk and milk products to Europe. We’ve been working on this for four years now and believe that the problem will be solved shortly. We could begin exporting ice cream to Europe in one year,” Seçkin said.

Seçkin said the Konya factory is likely to begin production in May 2013. This will be Algida’s second factory in Turkey, in addition to its facility in Çorlu, and its 35th factory worldwide.

Algida’s Marketing Director Özgür Kölükfakı told Hürriyet that by 2015 the company plans to increase ice cream consumption to 5.6 liters per person annually, and that Algida has concrete plans to make this a reality.