Continuing Fertilizer Supply, GÜBRETAŞ completed 2020 setting records

During the pandemic period, GÜBRETAŞ increased its operational activities in the Covid-19 outbreak in March, made a statement that provided farmers confidence to ensure and secure continuity of food supply without any disruption of agricultural production in Turkey. In a statement made on March 20, 2020, GÜBRETAŞ remarked that they will continue to provide all kinds of chemical fertilizers farmers need by taking all necessary actions as industry leader in order prevent any potential difficulties during the epidemic process in the supply of chemical fertilizers, that is one of the most important inputs for productivity increase in agriculture.

Fulfilling its promise given to farmers successfully, GÜBRETAŞ completed the year 2020 breaking new records in the company history by increasing both production and its sales during the spring and autumn periods when agricultural activities were concentrated. During last year, for a total of 687 thousand tons of solid and liquid-powder fertilizer produced by GÜBRETAŞ. Increasing its market share with sales of over 2 million tons in all product groups, the company succeeded to meet one third of the fertilizer consumption in our country by itself.

“WE HAVE FULFILLED OUR RESPONSIBILITY IN THIS DIFFICULT PERIOD”

GÜBRETAŞ’ General Manager İbrahim Yumaklı stated, “2020 has been a different and challenging year for the whole world, specifically due to Covid-19. In this period when new norms were formed in many areas, not only to protect only human health but also to preserve ensure food safety and continuity to meet nutritional needs became vitally crucial. This process revealed once again critical role of sustainability in agricultural production is for our country and humanity. We, as GÜBRETAŞ, have successfully fulfilled the responsibility we assumed in this difficult period, thanks to the strong cooperation we have established with our main shareholder Agricultural Credit Cooperatives, and we continue with this spirit and determination in the new year ”.

In addition to being the market leader reminding that GÜBRETAŞ continue to extend the conscious agriculture and agricultural consultancy services they offer for producers during the epidemic period, İbrahim Yumaklı said, “We continued to meet the needs of both plant nutrition products and information support of the producers in the agricultural sector at an increasing pace. In this way, we increased our chemical fertilizer sales amount by 21 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year, exceeding the 2 million tons threshold for the first time. In addition to domestic sales, we broke the company’s historical record in exports with an increase of more than 40% compared to last year, and we were able to contribute foreign currency inflow to the national economy. On the other hand, information requests from producers to our agricultural consultancy channels tripled. We continued our model-taking work successfully this period”.

“WE STAND BY OUR WORD IN THE NEW YEAR STARTED WITH NEW HOPES”

Emphasizing that averagely 6 million tons of chemical fertilizers are consumed annually in Turkey, General Manager Yumaklı said, “During the global epidemic period, agricultural sector continued production uninterruptedly and increasingly. 2020 for agriculture was an efficient year. As sector, we started the new year with new hopes. However, we are going through a difficult process regarding the climate, which is a crucial factor in agriculture. The possibility of experiencing one of the driest periods recently is an important risk for agricultural production. Therefore, we hope that the rains in the last few weeks will continue and the new year will be a fertile year for our farmers ”.

Stating that they have made the fertilizer supply preparations that will be needed for the 2021 spring season in agricultural production months in advance, İbrahim Yumaklı said, “We have delivered 80 percent of necessary products  for our sales budget, which is created according to the periodic fertilizer consumption data of the past years and the orders of the Agricultural Credit Cooperatives for the first 6 months. The remaining part, on the other hand, is supplied at the appropriate time within the framework of our market share in line with market developments, realizations in consumption and demands of our customers ”.

In this period, Yumaklı stated that the deliveries were continuing intensively in accordance with schedule of the orders received from the cooperatives and dealers for the fertilizers needed by farmers  furthermore said, “More than 90% of our customers’ product demands for this month were delivered by January 24. Moreover, almost 20% of the February orders of our customers, whom we prioritize in delivery due to geographical conditions and truck movements, have been also delivered. Our operational activities are carried out on a 24/7 basis, without any interruption. Farmers, continue to use our products provide our Agricultural Credit Cooperatives and other dealers all around Turkey”.

“DESPITE THE RISKS IN GLOBAL TRADE, WE OFFER FERTILIZERS WITH THE BEST QUALITY AT THE BEST PRICE”

General Manager Yumaklı stated Turkey’s insufficiency of natural resources and raw materials for chemical fertilizer production causing the sector to be based on import activities also said “Chemical fertilizer sector is a global industry, Turkey has a share of around just 1.5% in this market. It is one of the financial difficulties of the sector to purchase the fertilizer’s raw materials we import from abroad in foreign currency and deliver it to the farmers in Turkish Lira. “Chemical fertilizer prices are directly affected by the commodity and raw material prices in international markets, as well as the movements in exchange rates.”

Stating as GÜBRETAŞ keeps their policy of supplying the best quality fertilizer at the most affordable price for producers with the by taking operational measures to minimize the impact of these two factors on costs, Yumaklı moreover expressed, “Accordingly, even if there is an increase in foreign currencies, prices in our country can remain stable when global raw material prices decrease. There have been examples of this in the past years. However, despite the stable course of exchange rates in recently, our industry is deeply affected by the increases in international fertilizer raw material prices exceeding 40% compared to the same period of the previous year. Briefly, it is not enough to explain fertilizer prices only with exchange rates; it is necessary to consider epidemic factor, the global raw material prices and the increase in loan rates in our country with the change in the exchange rate in a one-year period.

General Manager Yumaklı completed his statement by saying, “Despite all these financial and operational difficulties, we are trying to facilitate the work of our farmers, whom we always gratefully remember, and we attach great importance to the continuity in agricultural production. For this purpose, we offer the fertilizers needed by farmers at the best quality and at the most affordable price. When the prices of the last year in the sector are compared, it will be seen that the Agricultural Credit Cooperatives and GÜBRETAŞ stand by the farmers. The fact is that GÜBRETAŞ as a brand perception remembered with the quality concept in the ratio of more than 90% in especially recent field research and surveys, we conducted increases the appreciation of the farmers for our products. For this reason, we encountered a very intense demand in 2020, and despite the difficulties brought by the epidemic, we broke the sales and delivery record of our 69-years old company history and provided more than 2 million tons of fertilizer by ourselves. We will continue to add value to agricultural production by maintaining this line ”.