Turkish milling industry targets $5b exports, focuses on African markets in 2024

Amid global economic uncertainties, geopolitical strains and transformational waves of technology, Turkey’s flour milling sector stands resilient and poised for further expansion. In an exclusive interview with Miller Magazine, Zeki Demirtaşoğlu, President of The Association of Turkish Milling and Sector Machinery Manufacturers (DESMUD), unveils the secrets behind the sector’s enduring strength and the strategic vision steering Turkey’s flour milling powerhouse towards a record-breaking $5 billion in exports by the end of 2024.

Zeki Demirtaşoğlu
President of The Association of Turkish Milling
and Sector Machinery Manufacturers (DESMUD)

The Turkish flour milling sector continues to thrive amidst economic challenges, wars, and geopolitical tensions. Despite global economic tightening and conflicts, the Turkish milling sector exceeded expectations in 2023, reaching over $3.5 billion in exports. Looking ahead to 2024, the Turkish milling sector anticipates reaching $5 billion in exports. The spotlight is on Africa and Latin America as key target markets.

In an interview with Miller Magazine, Zeki Demirtaşoğlu, President of The Association of Turkish Milling and Sector Machinery Manufacturers (DESMUD), he shared valuable insights into the sector’s resilience and promising future. Demirtaşoğlu’s insights provide a comprehensive overview of Turkey’s flourishing milling machinery sector and its commitment to sustainable practices on the global stage.

How would you describe the current state of the milling  machinery sector in Turkey? 

The Turkish milling sector is the export leader in the world and has maintained this position for many years. We predict that this sector, in which about 300 large and small companies operate in Turkey, will maintain its leadership in the world in the coming years thanks to its competitiveness in costs and its superior performance in quality and service.

How was the overall performance of the sector in 2023?  Can you share the important achievements that stand out in 2023?

The Turkish milling sector concluded 2022 with exports amounting to 3.43 billion dollars and managed to exceed 3.5 billion dollars in 2023. Although precise figures are not available yet, this achievement is remarkable, considering the global economic tightening and conflicts during this period. We firmly believe that our industry will break a historical record by reaching the target of 5 billion dollars by the end of 2024. The milling sector continues to achieve significant successes in every field from storage, transport and unloading, grinding, sifting to automation, weighing and laboratory systems. The largest capacity flour, feed, starch and coffee factories in the world are established by Turkish milling machinery manufacturers. All of these facilities, where Industry 4.0 is used from storage operations to transport, grinding, sieving and automation systems, are operated by Turkish technicians.

What are the key challenges and opportunities that the sector is currently facing?

In a period of economic tightening in the world, states do not want to send the foreign currency they hold out of the country. For this reason, the Turkish milling machinery sector, which sells 94-97% of its production abroad, is experiencing difficulties in accessing loans for large investments to be made abroad, turning loans into cash and getting this cash out of the foreign country and coming to Turkey. For these reasons, unfortunately, many projects in the world have been postponed or some of them have been cancelled. These difficulties continue in a similar manner in all the countries we export to.

The pandemic that gripped the world for almost 3 years...Then the Russia-Ukraine war that broke out right on our doorstep...And finally the escalating tension in the Middle East. How was the sector affected by these global and geopolitical developments?

We expect the economic tightening model, which started in the USA and spread to the world, to come to an end in the third and fourth quarters of 2024. Therefore, the Turkish milling sector continues to prepare for the new period by strengthening its stocks. Our companies also continue the projects in their hands. Almost all of our milling machinery manufacturers have orders and projects for 1-1.5 years. In the third and fourth quarters of 2024, they aim to fulfil their factory production capacities for at least two years with orders for 2025 and 2026 by receiving new and strong orders.

The pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war and the rising tension in the Middle East...All these have revealed how important access and accessibility to food and raw materials is, and brought food safety and security to the forefront. This process<