The Turkish Feed Manufacturers Association held its 36th ordinary board meeting in Ankara on April 9. In his opening speech, M. Ülkü Karakuş, the president of the Turkish Feed Manufacturers Association, updated the feed industry’s current situation and indicated that compound feed production in Turkey increased by 358 percent in the last 20 years. Mr. Karakus stated that the compound feed industry reached 25 million tons in 2018, making Turkey the largest feed producer in Europe. The Turkish feed industry ranked 7th in the world in 2018 and the target of the sector is to increase to 5th place.
Mr. Karakuş said the compound feed industry's priority target is to become one of the major exporters of feed in the region by 2023. He emphasized that the number of transgenic genes are increasing in the world every year and Europe has approval for more than 100 genes, while Turkey only has 36 approved. This situation is causing disruption in the Turkish feed industry and needs to be solved by the Ministry of Agriculture with urgency. Increasing the number of approved genes will have positive effects for the import of U.S. soybeans.