Export hub

When several hundred trucks carrying freshly harvested sugarbeet seed for processing arrived at our Eskişehir location in Türkiye last August, our colleagues sprang into action, working like clockwork not only on their customary processes, but also on expansion of the TURKA processing and packaging plant, which was in its final stages. “We had leased warehouses to store the untreated seed temporarily,” says Plant Manager Basri Şanlı. In the end, TURKA was completed sooner than planned and the plant began applying active substances to sugarbeet seed for the first time in October 2024.

This chemical treatment was still done by hand in the old plant. “Every machine had to be filled and every mixture put together manually,” says Basri. Now both steps are fully automated. And that is not the only improvement: The amount of gas required for drying has been slashed, and the capacities for the local market have doubled.

Free capacity

So far, the plant is operating at a quarter of its capacity. Construction began in spring 2023, with the aim of making Türkiye a hub for seed in countries outside the EU. Philipp Käthe, Product Manager Seed Treatments, describes the reason for this with a smile: “to escape the ban on neonicotinoids.” When the insecticide was prohibited in the EU and, as a consequence, it could not be used for treating seed at the PIA plant in Einbeck, there was still one exemption in France, where the expanded FRANCA plant was commissioned for this purpose. The exemption ended and Russia followed with RUNA. Due to the war against Ukraine and the ban on importing goods from Russia, Türkiye was now the last of four locations with its own processing and packaging facilities in its existing hall.

However, while TURKA was being built, the Turkish government also decided to ban the use of neonicotinoids in seed treatment. “The decision came out of the blue, but we were able to respond quickly and reduce the scope of the investment,” says Philipp. €6.3 million was originally earmarked, but the final total came to €5.9 million. However, TURKA could easily be expanded at little investment.

And that remains a focus of the Business Unit – because even without neonicotinoids, Türkiye’s location makes it highly suited as an export hub for sugarbeet seed: “We now have sufficient capacity to supply the Middle East, North Africa, and countries such as Kazakhstan and Belarus with treated seed,” says Basri.

Same technical level

The expansion in Türkiye also had the advantage that all four KWS processing and packaging plants are now at the same technical level, enabling staff to support each other. That is a great aid, since the procedure has changed for our colleagues and is now far more digital than it used to be. “The manager of an existing plant attended the inauguration in Türkiye and supported the 12 colleagues there with his practical experience,” says Philipp. “That’s a huge benefit.” Despite language and cultural barriers, the successful collaboration between Einbeck and Eskişehir was evident during the planning and construction phases. |