Five large soybean crushers and refiners from Turkey attended USSEC’s 3rd Soybean Processing and Refining Conference on September 24 and 25, 2017 in Dead Sea, Jordan. USSEC Country Manager – Turkey Sirri Kayhan guided the delegates.
About 80 participations from the Middle East – North Africa (MENA) region attended the event. Although there was a good amount of interest from the Turkish crushing and refining industry for this conference, due to the Vegetable Oil Producers Association’s annual meeting, Turkish participation was limited to just five participants. Turkey’s crushing industry is interested in attending USSEC events in the region because the MENA region is a very good market for Turkish crushers.
Turkey’s oilseed production averages about 2.3 to 2.7 million tons per year, but the country imports 75 percent of its production of oilseeds. Refining capacity is around 4 million tons per year with 100 facilities. Capacity usage in refining, however, is around 70 percent. Oilseed production capacity is 8 million tons a year with 110 facilities with 55 percent capacity usage, and so there is still unused capacity in oilseed crushing. Turkey produced 3 million tons of oil in 2016; 25 percent of this production is produced with locally produced seeds, with 75 percent from exported oilseeds. Soybean oil usage is not allowed in human consumption in Turkey, due to GMO concerns.
The participants were pleased to attend this well-organized regional event and made connections with other crushers and traders in the region, developing good relationships for their businesses.
At the end of the conference, the delegation was satisfied about the quality and differentiation of U.S. soybeans and gained a better knowledge about the U.S. Soy Sustainability Assurance Protocol (SSAP.) Mr. Kayhan said, “We hope that this image will help us to increase the U.S. soybean market share for their imported soybeans in the following years.”