TURKEY SUGAR FACTORIES

Foundation and History

There were some attempts to establish Sugar Factories in Turkey during the Ottoman Empire (1840-1899) and in the following years. However, none of these attempts could be put into practice and could not go beyond being a request.

Attempts to establish Sugar Factories were only possible thanks to the extensive opportunities provided by the Republic period, founded by our Great Leader ATATÜRK. The first serious attempt in this direction was started by a farmer named Molla Ömeroğlu Nuri (Şeker) from Uşak.

"Uşak Terakki Ziraat TAŞ." was established in Uşak with the participation of many local entrepreneurs on 19.04.1923 with a capital of 600.000 TL. The foundation of the first Sugar Factory was laid on 6.11.1925 and the factory was put into operation on 17.12.1926.

While the efforts to establish a Sugar Factory in Uşak were continuing, in the same years, "Istanbul and Trakya Şeker Fabrikaları TAŞ." was established. On December 22, 1925, the foundation of Alpullu Sugar Factory was laid and the assembly of the factory was completed in eleven months, and the factory was put into operation on 26.11.1926 and produced the first Turkish sugar.

Until 1933, the sugar needs of our country were partially met by the production of these two factories. Since a great deal of experience was gained in beet farming and sugar factory operation with these two factories, it was deemed necessary to establish new sugar factories.

Two companies were formed with the partnership of some of our national banks and "Anadolu Şeker Fabrikaları TAŞ." He opened Eskişehir Sugar Factory on 5.12.1933.

Another company, "Turhal Şeker Fabrikası TAŞ." opened the Turhal Sugar Factory on 19.10.1934.

After the foundation of the Republic, it started with a development move based on agriculture, and efforts were made to establish an industry based on agricultural raw materials through the bourgeoisie, which was tried to be created by the state. The Republic, which was based on these policies until 1929, started to implement the policies adopting statism after the effect of the 1929 world crisis and the realization that the private sector could not bear this burden.

It aimed to direct the private sector to industrial investments by enacting the “Law on Concessions and Exemptions Granted to Sugar Factories” dated April 8, 1925 and numbered 601, which corresponds to the economy-policies implemented until 1929.

With this law, very important opportunities were provided to the private sector. By law;

-The right to establish and operate sugar factories within the regions to be determined by the Ministry of Commerce, provided that they do not exceed the borders of five neighboring provinces and cover an area suitable for the continuous cultivation of sugar beet to meet the needs of the region, was given the right to establish and operate sugar factories for 25 years.

-These factories would benefit from the facilities provided by the Incentive Industry Law of 1913 within the specified period.

- No consumption tax will be collected from the sugar produced for 8 years, provided that the produced beet is sold to sugar factories, the beet cultivation areas will be exempted from the land tax.

- No charge will be taken from the quarries that supply coal and lime to the factories, 1-5 ha of land will be allocated free of charge from the treasury lands to those who will establish factories, raw materials or products produced in the factories will be transported by public vehicles at a discount of 1/3, for 10 years from those working in the factory. dividend tax would not be levied.

-Only individuals and organizations that wanted to benefit from this law would have to prove that they had the capital and personnel to establish and operate a sugar factory.

As a result of the opportunities provided by this law, the foundations of Uşak and Alpullu factories, then Eskişehir and Turhal factories were laid, and the first sugar was produced in Alpullu on 26 November 1926.

Uşak Sugar Factory;  It was established by the "Uşak Terakki Ziraat Türk Anonim Şirketi", which was formed by the Industry and Maadin Bank, the Czechoslovak Skoda Company and private individuals with a capital of 600 thousand liras. The foundation of the factory, the construction of which was undertaken by the Czechoslovak Skoda Company, was laid on November 6, 1925, and the first production took place on December 17, 1926. There are two remarkable situations in Uşak Sugar Factory. The first is that one of the factory partners is a company from another country and the other is the establishment of the factory in an arid area due to the inexperience in the sector. This mistake was found to be correct from the mistake made because it shows in practice that the factory is not built in the dry place in the sector.

Alpullu Sugar Factory;  Established with a capital of 500 thousand liras, “Istanbul and Trakya Şeker Fabrikaları Türk AŞ. was founded by It is our first sugar producing factory in Turkey. The share distribution is 68 percent, T. Isbank, TC Ziraat Bank, and Special Administrations of Thrace provinces 10 percent, and private individuals, including Thrace villagers, is 22 percent. The factory was established by the German-based Maschinenfabrik Buckau R. Wolf Company. Its foundation was laid on 22 December 1925 and it was put into operation on 26 November 1926.

Atatürk visited the factory on 20 December 1930. After visiting Alpullu Sugar Factory, which is accepted as the first factory of the great savior Republic, with pleasure and pride, he wrote his thoughts about the sugar industry in his diary as follows:

           “I visited Alpullu Sugar Factory. I was very satisfied with what I saw. I wish the establishment to expand further and be more successful than it has ever been. The increase of sugar factories in every suitable region of our country and thus the supply of sugar needs of the country should be recognized among our important goals.

                                                               Ghazi Mustafa Kemal

Eskişehir Sugar Factory:  Anadolu Sugar Factories was established in 1933 by TAŞ with a capital of 3 million. The capital distribution is as follows. T. İş Bank 51 percent, TC Ziraat Bank 24.5 percent, Industry and Maadin Bank 24.5 percent. The factory was established by the German company, which established the Alpullu Sugar Factory and later to establish the Turhal Sugar Factory. The foundation of the factory was laid on February 1, 1933, and it was put into operation on December 5, 1933 in the same year.

Turhal Sugar Factory:  The factory, which was decided to be established in Sivas before, was decided to be established in Turhal as a result of the experiment gained at the Uşak Sugar Factory. The factory was established by Türkiye İş Bankası and Ziraat Bankası with a total of 3 million capital and equal shares. The foundation of the factory was laid on October 7, 1933.

The Uşak factory was established by four private companies. It was transferred to Sümerbank on July 11, 1933, as it constantly incurred losses due to the wrong location selection.

Sugar consumption, which reached 70 thousand tons until the world depression in 1929, decreased to 50 thousand tons with the depression. Due to the situation in the world, the contraction in consumption has put the existing sugar factories in trouble since there is no possibility of export.

In order to eliminate the negative effects of the 1929 world crisis on the sugar sector, the "Sugar Rationalization Committee" was formed and its researches,

1- Consolidation of sugar factories and establishment of the new company and determination of these conditions,

2- Ensuring that sugar is sold at the same price all over the country,

3- Rationalization of sugar production, he built on it.

As a result of the researches, it was decided to merge the sugar factories; On July 6, 1935, Sümerbank, Türkiye İş Bankası and TC Ziraat Bankası were established with equal shares of “Turkish Sugar Factories Joint Stock Company” with a capital of 22 million TL.

In order to coordinate agricultural, technical and administrative works and to combine capital resources, four sugar factories as separate companies have been gathered under a single company, in which three national banks are partners with equal shares. TÜRKİYE ŞEKER FABRİKALARI A.Ş. with a capital of 22 million TL. Four different factories were taken over by this company.

Sugar production activities were carried out with four sugar factories which were extended from time to time until 1950 . With the "Expansion Program of Sugar Industry", which was prepared in 1951 in order to meet the increasing sugar need every year with domestic production, new sugar factories were established. On the other hand, the cooperative movement, which is an example of social solidarity in the agricultural sector, was initiated with the aim of organizing beet planters.

In the period covering 1951-1956, a total of eleven new sugar factories were built and the number of factories reached fifteen in 1956. Ankara Sugar Factory in 1962 and Kastamonu Sugar Factory in 1963, a machine factory developed in our industry and two workshops, 65% of them were manufactured and put into operation. In order to meet the increasing sugar need of our country in parallel with the increase in population, it is foreseen that new sugar factories will be established in 1977, Muş and Ilgın in 1982, Boron in 1983, Ağrı in 1984 and Elbistan Sugar Factories in 1985. and its facilities were manufactured in five existing machinery factories and put into operation.

Later, Erciş, Ereğli and Çarşamba Sugar Factories were opened in 1989, Çorum in 1991, Kars in 1993, Yozgat in 1998 and Kırşehir Sugar Factories in 2001, respectively.

After the establishment of the Turkish Sugar Factories Joint Stock Company, first the sugar production and consumption were balanced in 1939, and then Adapazarı, Amasya, Konya, Kütahya, Burdur, Kayseri, Susurluk, Elazığ, Erzincan, Erzurum, Malatya, Ankara, Kastamonu, Afyon, Muş, Ilgın, Bor, Ağrı, Elbistan, Erciş, Ereğli, Çarşamba, Çorum, Kars, Kırşehir and Yozgat Sugar factories, in total, have taken into operation a total of 30 factories. Among these factories, Amasya, Kayseri and Konya factories were privatized. The number of factories is currently 27.

Turkey Sugar Factories in Numbers

-In the top 10 among 500 big companies in Turkey

-3 in the number of employees.

-5th in equity.

6th in sales from production.

-7th in sales revenue.

-9 in exports.

- Number of factories 27

-Number of alcohol factories 4 (Annual production capacity of 57.6 million liters)

-The number of machinery factories it owns is 6 (Total production capacity is 15 thousand tons/year.)

- Number of seed processing factories owned by 1 (Annual processed seed production capacity is 1200 tons.)

-Number of agricultural holdings owned 2 (Total land 2100 ha)

-The number of research institutes it owns is 1

Source: 1- www.turkseker.gov.tr 2- Şeker Kanunu Tasarısı ve Gökhan Günaydın, T. Şeker Sektörü Analizi Sayfa:17’ den derlenmiştir.