DEMAND FOR FLOUR IN EUROPE RISES SHARPLY DUE TO CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC...

Rising demand for flour...

Eren Günhan Ulusoy, the head of the International Association of Operative Millers (IAOM) Eurasia, said that demand for flour in Europe has risen sharply since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Following the rapid spread of COVID-19, demand has been high for flour and flour products such as pasta, Eren Günhan Ulusoy told Anadolu Agency.

"In Turkey a fall in flour consumption after the closing of restaurants and cafes was balanced out by a leap in retail sales," he said.

While there has been no been change in overall flour consumption, there has been a shift towards the retail side of demand, he stressed, adding:

"In March, sudden demands in retail jumped from 5% of the market to 10-12%."

Stepped-up flour production...

Explaining that Turkey boasts a flour production capacity more than twice its needs, Ulusoy added that it can redirect its inventories and capacity for exports to the domestic market upon request.

"In normal conditions, the demand for flour in Turkey stretches out evenly over 12 months, but [this March] we saw three months of demand in a single month," he said.

People stocked up by buying several package at a time, but consumption did not grow at the same rate, he said.

"So the demand for the coming months was brought forward," he said, adding that to meet this sudden demand in the last half of March, Turkey immediately stepped up its flour production.

"In this period, our capacity utilization reached 85%. Now we see that demand has slowed down a bit, as inventories on the consumer side have strengthened considerably," he explained.

Yeast and flour mills...

Demand for yeast has also has risen for three weeks in a row, according to Ünsal Yamaner, the CEO of industrial yeast producer Lesaffre.

He said the demand on the retail side in March climbed about sixfold from the previous month.

At the same time, the demand for yeast from bakeries that supply bread to places such as hotels and restaurants fell, he added.

Turkey boasts 550 active flour mills with a total annual production capacity of 30 million tons.

The country's annual consumption per person of 160 kilograms already makes it one of the top flour-consuming countries in the world.

Turkey’s flour exports in 2019 are estimated at 3.3 million tons and could grow further in 2020, depending on the course of the outbreak.

By Aysu Biçer

www.aa.com.tr