TURKEY – Tat Gida, one of Türkiye’s key food producers specializing in plant-based food, has received up to €20 million (US$20.70m) growth loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to increase productivity, modernize equipment and finance working capital needs.

Tat Gıda is a food giant in branded tomato paste, ketchup, and canned food and pioneered the establishment of the export-oriented agricultural industry in Turkey.

The company is also part of the Koç Group, Türkiye’s largest industrial and services group in terms of revenues and exports.

The new EBRD loan will finance Tat Gida’s initiatives for increasing productivity and capacity increases according to the company’s growth plans.

Natalya Zhukova, EBRD’s Agribusiness Sector Team Director said: “We are happy to support Tat Gida’s growth trajectory and sustainability credentials. The recent global crises have made it clear that food security is a key concern of our era.”

We must work with producers who prioritize healthy, sustainable modes of production in the food sector, and we believe Tat Gida is a perfect example of that.”

EBRD and Tat Gida will also collaborate to support youth inclusion in the agribusiness sector in Türkiye by introducing a new training program aimed at equipping young people with the skills needed to adopt modern agricultural technologies and digital applications for high-value food processing activities.

As part of the project, Tat Gida will also work to reinforce its existing sustainable initiatives by enhancing digital transformation in agriculture and food production according to its corporate sustainability strategies.

In environmental responsibility, the company is reducing waste in the field by preventing its formation at the source, and increasing the recycling and reusing waste rate.

In addition, Tat Gida says it reduces greenhouse gas amounts by sending organic wastes (leaves, twigs, etc. on tomatoes/peas) to licensed biogas facilities where these organic wastes are converted into renewable energy.

In 2021, the company was noted to have been able to recycle about 3,355 tons of waste and by reducing water consumption in operations, it reused 28% of its total consumption of water in all the facilities by recycling a total of 1,017,500 m3/year through various projects.

Evren Albaş, Tat’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “Tat has always been committed to serving natural products to our consumers with full traceability, high quality, and world-class food safety standards. We lead the sector within innovation, digitalization, and smart agriculture practices. We are very pleased to agree with EBRD to increase our investments and develop our sustainable initiatives.”

The investment to the Istanbul-based company is part of more than €17 billion (US$ 17.59m) EBRD investments made in 385 projects in the country since 2009, with the overwhelming majority of those projects being in the private sector.

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