July 12, 2010
Turkey supplies most dairy products to Middle East
Turkey, which recently increased its milk and dairy products exports thanks to its modernised production facilities, has Middle East as its top importer.
The transition from small family enterprises to large-scale modern production facilities has boosted the country's exports in milk and dairy products, officials said on Friday (Jul 9).
Most of the exports are going to Middle Eastern countries as well as Central Asian nations, but a wide variety of countries receive Turkish dairy exports, including Albania, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, northern Cyprus, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and the US.
Growth in the female workforce, urbanisation and consumers' awareness of health issues have all helped trigger the boom in modern plants producing pasteurised milk and dairy products using hygienic methods.
In comparison with developed countries, consumption of milk and dairy products is rather low in Turkey and most Middle Eastern countries. This gives investors a chance to utilise the growth potential by building modern plants.
In Turkey, the biggest dairy plants are situated in western Anatolia and the Aegean and Marmara regions. There are still ongoing projects of building modern plants in southeast Anatolia, but the plans are linked to a surge in investments for stockbreeding in the region.
Firms producing milk and dairy products are also working on research and development projects that could encourage consumption in overseas markets as well as the domestic market.
Many products mainly produced and consumed by Western European countries are now on the production lists of dairy plants, which produce milk, low-fat milk, fruit-flavored milk and yogurt, milky desserts, cream cheese, blue cheese and mozzarella cheese, and other products for export.
Various types of cheeses make up more than half of Turkey's total dairy exports. Last year, the country exported 65,258 tonnes of milk and dairy products worth US$150.3 million.
