Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

In his speech at the ceremony, Hisarcıklıoğlu noted that Licensed Warehousing, which both increases the earnings of the producers and provides convenience to the industrialists, started with the initiative of TOBB and said, “In 2005, the law that forms the basis of today’s licensed warehousing system was prepared with the contributions of TOBB. TMO-TOBB Lidaş was established in 2010 together with TMO to encourage the private sector’s investment in license warehousing. Thanks to these steps that develop licensed warehouses, our private sector has also turned to this area. Thus, the licensed warehouse capacity operating in our country today has exceeded 8.5 million tons.”

Emphasizing that commodity exchanges also put their hands under the stone, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “With its electronic sales halls, accredited laboratories, live animal exchanges and licensed warehouses, our commodity exchanges have ensured the healthy functioning of the agriculture and livestock sector. 20 of the 27 authorized classifier laboratories, which are decisive in the analysis of product quality in the licensed warehousing system, also belong to our commodity exchanges.”

Pointing out that one of the leading institutions in this field is the İzmir Commodity Exchange, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “With its deep-rooted history of 130 years, it is the oldest and deep-rooted commodity exchange of our country. When the Licensed Warehouse system came to life, it took action in the fastest way. It is the third that started to operate in our country and the first among all the commodity exchanges. The licensed warehouse has been ELİDAŞ, which was established under the leadership of our İzmir Commodity Exchange and by our 8 commodity exchanges. ELİDAŞ, which started operations in 2013, has increased its capacity with new investments after the success it has achieved and today it has brought this new facility to İzmir.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu said that İzmir Commodity Exchange, the founding partner of TÜRİB, proudly follows the projects it has implemented by working as a project factory.

- 5-Star service from İzmir Commodity Exchange

Stating that İzmir Commodity Exchange is an accredited commodity exchange, Hisarcıklıoğlu noted that the commodity exchange offers 5-star service to its members at international standards.

Stating that they also work together with Işınsu Kestelli at TOBB, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “She has undertaken duties in our Commodity Exchanges Council and General Administrative Board. We determine agricultural policies together. In addition, our Assembly President Barış Kocagöz is a member of TOBB’s High Coordination Board. May Allah be pleased with President Işınsu, Management, Assembly Speaker and members, Secretary General, who both provide great services to İzmir and add value to our country’s agriculture with the projects they have implemented.”

TOBB President, stating that with TÜRİB, which was opened in 2019 with the founding partnership of İzmir Commodity Exchange, it is possible to trade products electronically and on a single platform without the need for physical relocation, said, “Our producers can also obtain financing from Ziraat Bank and Agricultural Credit Cooperatives by collateralizing the Electronic Product Bills they procure from here. In the 3-year activity period of TÜRİB, the transaction volume exceeded 55 billion TRY, the amount of transactions exceeded 20 million tons, while the number of investors reached 135,000. Thanks to licensed warehousing and TÜRİB, the prices of agricultural products cannot be speculated by 3-5 people. The prices of our agricultural products will be determined in a more transparent way. TOBB community and commodity exchanges have undertaken an important mission for the development of licensed warehousing and agricultural product trade depending on the product stock in Türkiye. Our goal is to increase the efficiency of agricultural markets and to have a developed agricultural market. At this time when the importance of agriculture and food is increasing, with a developed agricultural market, Türkiye will be able to become the epicenter of agriculture by using the advantage of its geographical location.”

- IZTB Chairwoman Işınsu Kestelli

Işınsu Kestelli, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of IZTB, stated that ELİDAŞ has always been working with 100 percent occupancy rate for the last 5-6 years and has increased its capacity by more than 100 percent with additional investment, and said, “ELİDAŞ has made a big difference in the sector as the first licensed warehouse company operating in cotton storage in our country where product bills are created electronically.”

Kestelli underlined that Türkiye’s ability to achieve a strong position in the world agricultural products market depends on the formation of an effective marketing system in agriculture, and in order to achieve this, expanding licensed warehousing activities in storable products and product specialized exchange is a very important tool.

Stating that ELİDAŞ is one of the best examples of this, Kestelli said, “Productivity and production in cotton should be increased. As İzmir Commodity Exchange, we sincerely believe that İzmir Agriculture Technology Center, which we have been working on for a while, where we are nearing the end of the establishment phase and where we have set the goal of becoming the Silicon Valley of Turkish agriculture, will make a difference in this regard.”

- ELİDAŞ Chairman of the Board of Directors Barış Kocagöz

Barış Kocagöz, Chairman of the Assembly of İzmir Commodity Exchange and Chairman of the Board of Directors of ELİDAŞ, stated that ELİDAŞ, which set out with a capacity of 17 thousand tons, will now continue its way with a capacity of 35,000 tons.

AK Party İzmir Deputy Ceyda Bölünmez Çankırı, CHP İzmir Deputy Bedri Serter, Deputy Governor Hulusi Doğan, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Mayor Mustafa Özuslu, Agriculture and Forestry Provincial Director Mustafa Özen, Aegean Region Chamber of Industry Chairman Ender Yorgancılar, İzmir Chamber of Commerce President Mahmut Özgener and Aegean Exporters’ Associations Coordinator President Jak Eskinazi also attended the opening.