By Muammer Niksarlı President, National Cooperative Union of Turkey m.niksarli@turkey.coop

THE TURKİSH THE TURKİSH AGRİCULTURAL AGRİCULTURAL COOPERATİVESCOOPERATİVES&&E-COMMERCE E-COMMERCE by

Muammer NiksarlıPresident,National Cooperative Union of Turkeym.niksarli@turkey.coop

Total number of co-ops: 69.665 Total number of members: 7.433.108 Number of co-op unions: 517 Total number of workers: 550.000 Total amount of paid capital: 25-30

Billion USD Total volume of business: 50 Billion USD

• 2nd largest agric. credit distributor (19 %)

• Largest fertilizer, seed.. distributor,

• owned 21 companies• 1,3 million farmer-

members and 6000 staff

• 2014 volume of business exceeds 5 billion USD

More than 515,000 members

338 primary co-ops 17 product-based

unions 100 % market

share in many agricultural products and export marketing

1,6 million members Own 5 sugar factories 42 % of sugar production 5 Billion USD volume of business Create 250.000 jobs (100.000

seasonal)

Turkey, the world’s largest hazelnut producer, earned $2.3 billion from hazelnut exports in 2014.

Turkey shipped more than 252,500 tons of hazelnuts to almost 110 countries in 2014.

85-90 % of dried apricots consumed in the world are produced in

Malatya, Turkey, known as the capital of apricot. Due to climatic conditions, the production in 2014 was 38 thousand tons less than earlier year and was 79 thousand tonnes.

Exported to 93 countries, total export revenue of dried apricot in 2014 was 348

million dollars.

Total volume of export of sugar-based food items in 2014 : 70 Million USD

Number of countries exported: 55(including China)

Export of some Agricultural Marketing Co-ops (000 Dollars)

Marmarabirlik

Olive

TarisOlive Oil

TarisGrapes

Taris Figs

2012/13 22.333 19.904 41.678 5.799

2013/14 20.498 1.392 38.629 7.330

2014/15 18.800* 631 39.827 3.935

*11 months figure

It is known that e-commerce in retail business is widely used like Alibaba.com and Amazon.com.

Using these examples, cooperatives around the world can establish a joint sales platform and reach consumers without intermediaries.

All cooperatives in the world can establish a platform among themselves to sell and buy their products, share production techniques and develop joint commercial activities.

Cooperatives in their own countries can set up selling stands for co-op products of other countries from around the world.

This initiative is important to help known co-op products worldwide

Turkey is the leader in the production and export of hazelnut, figs, apricot and dried sultana raisin(grapes).

Cooperatives in the world can work together to eliminate middlemen taking greater role in marketing of these products.

Example: China and Turkey are now discussing how to cooperate in joint production planning, marketing and investment for processing.