MÜSİAD Europe Turkish Food Summit

MÜSİAD Europe Turkish Food Summit

8 February 2025

Distinguished guests, esteemed business people,

Most esteemed MÜSİAD Family,

Ladies and gentlemen,

As we all know, the geography of Türkiye has, in every period of history, been the cradle of civilizations with its fertile lands and its productive, hard-working and determined people, and has achieved great successes in the field of agriculture and livestock. These lands, where agriculture and civilization began, have for thousands of years been virtually the source of life for humanity as well.

However, it is also a fact that under the conditions of today’s world we live intertwined with certain major problems in the field of agriculture and food. Today, when agriculture and food are mentioned, we may face many issues, from climate change to global economic fluctuations, from rising costs to logistical difficulties.

That is why we too, as MÜSİAD, are working with all our might to build a strong Türkiye in the fields of food, agriculture and livestock; we strive to carry our country to the point it deserves with national production and domestic capital.

The MÜSİAD Europe Turkish Food Summit, which has brought us together today, essentially envisages serving this purpose. At our summit, we aim to address the problems of the Turkish food sector in the European market, to develop proposals for solutions and to create an understanding of collective wisdom among the stakeholders of the sector.

Our summit also aims to contribute to the formation of a sectoral memory by addressing important subjects such as the food supply chain, sustainability, environmentally friendly production, food safety and digitalization.

In order to increase the effectiveness of the Turkish food industry in the international arena and to enable it to achieve sustainable success in global competition, we place collective wisdom and cooperation in the foreground. The Europe Turkish Food Summit is a valuable meeting point where sector representatives can make their voices heard and establish new partnerships. We consider this event of ours to be a critical step in carrying the vision of Turkish entrepreneurs to Europe, and we believe that it will further strengthen the position of the Turkish business world in Europe.

Food, agriculture and livestock are also of the utmost vital importance in that they constitute a sector with intense contact with many different sectors. In this respect, we also believe that our summit will create a vision for the sector and for the stakeholders of the sector.

The “MÜSİAD Food Retailing Sector Research Report 2025”, one of the 17 sector reports that we as MÜSİAD will share with the public in the coming days, examines this field in depth. I believe that our report, which contains the most comprehensive information on the sector, will, God willing, bring a new perspective and vision to the sector.

On this occasion, I thank all our colleagues who laboured in the preparation of the report and wish that our report may be auspicious for our country and our sector.

Distinguished guests,

Esteemed MÜSİAD Family,

For the food, agriculture and livestock sector, 2024 was a year in which there were fluctuations in the supply-demand balance and price instability was experienced. With the addition of the losses caused by adverse climate conditions, unfortunately the year 2024 closed with a yield below expectations.

The failure to achieve stability in red meat prices despite heavy imports, the rise in chicken meat prices as demand shifted towards white meat, the increase in raw milk prices; the fact that the announced floor purchase prices for cereal products, wheat in particular, remained below inflation, and the loss of yield and quality experienced in many products, also under the effect of drought, drew attention as the prominent problems of the year 2024.

However, despite such difficult conditions, the agricultural sector also managed to break a new export record in 2024. Total agricultural sector exports, recording an increase of %3.3 compared with the previous year, rose to USD 36.2 billion. In this period, exports of plant products increased by %3.7 to reach the level of USD 24.5 billion, while exports of animal products rose by %10.8 to USD 3.9 billion.

According to the inflation data announced by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), food inflation in Türkiye stood at %43.58 in 2024. The fact that this increase observed in food prices in our country is considerably higher than the increase on a global scale is an agenda item that must certainly be dwelt upon meticulously in 2025.

The year 2024 that we have left behind also drew attention as a year in which many steps were taken towards the solution of the problems we have mentioned and a clean page was opened in agricultural policies.

At the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry announced its 5-year strategic plan covering the 2024-2028 period. In March, the “2024-2028 Livestock Roadmap” was announced. In order to encourage and support cooperatives and producer unions, a period of rating agricultural organizations began.

In addition, the agricultural support model was simplified. On the plant production side, 13 strategic products were determined and the supports were announced for the first time on a three-year basis.

In the livestock supports, likewise announced on a three-year basis, it was declared that greater support would be given to efficient and high-quality production. The practice whereby the state leases out agricultural land that has not been cultivated for two consecutive years was another development that drew attention in the sector.

In the likely course of the sector for 2025, many factors will again be influential, chiefly climatic risks, the course of foreign-currency-dependent input costs, the shortage of labour and the conditions of access to finance.

As is known, with the effects of the monetary tightening policy being felt distinctly as of June, inflation, which has been on a downward trend for the last 8 months, receded to the level of %42.12 in January.

In order for inflation to be able to recede by the end of 2025 to the %21 level determined by the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT), the economic administration continues to take strict measures.

In this framework, we also hope that with the additional measures taken for the sector as a whole and with the incentives to be provided, there will be a visible improvement in 2025.

Distinguished participants,

As MÜSİAD, we advocate a production-oriented economic model. Our goal is always a Türkiye that is self-sufficient in agriculture and livestock. Our aim is to reduce dependence on imports, to increase national production and to make our farmers ready for global competition.

We are aware that this requires reforms in many fields, from digitalization to sustainable agricultural practices, from encouraging young people towards agriculture to facilities for access to finance.

The year 2025 will be a critical turning point for all of us. Inflation entering a downward trend thanks to the strict measures taken by the economic administration will give rise to new opportunities for the business world and for the agricultural sector. We believe that with the incentives to be provided and the additional measures taken in the food, agriculture and livestock sectors, a visible improvement will be experienced in the coming period.

Let us not forget that these lands are a trust entrusted to us by our ancestors! And we must never let it slip from our minds that we will hand this trust over to its true owners, the coming generations.

Therefore, what falls to us is to take proper ownership of this trust, to cultivate our fertile lands in the best possible way, to stand by our producers and to accelerate our national development.

As we did yesterday, so today, with joined hands and joined hearts, we will place Türkiye among the leading countries in agriculture and livestock. We believe this with all our heart! We will stand by every single one of our farmers, our industrialists and our business people who work, produce and shed the sweat of their brow.

With these feelings and thoughts, I thank you, esteemed participants, and the representatives of our business world, and I greet you all with respect and reverence…

May God protect you.

Mahmut Asmalı

President of MÜSİAD