BCI officials visit İzmir Commodity Exchange
The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) delegation comprising the CEO Alan McClay, BCI Membership Manager Paula Lum Young Bautil, BCI Membership Engagement Coordinator Manish Neupane, Zeynep Kollu from IKEA Cotton Department and Şükran Baycura, General Manager of Good Cotton Practices Association (IPUD) paid a visit to Mr. Barış Kocagöz, President of İzmir Commodity Exchange (ICE) and chairperson of National Cotton Council, on Tuesday, 25 October 2016. Dr. Erçin Güdücü, Secretary General of the ICE, Dr. Pınar Nacak, Deputy Secretary General, and Mustafa Yağcıoğlu, Director of the R&D Department, were also present during the visit.
The delegation that visited Türkiye in order to learn about BCI-certified cotton production and harvest in Türkiye and visit farmers, ginneries and spinning factories in this respect was informed by Mr. Kocagöz and Mr. Güdücü about the duties and activities of the ICE, active cotton and raisins transaction halls, Aegean Agricultural Products Licensed Warehousing Inc. (ELİDAŞ), İzmir Commodity Exchange Electronic Trading Platform (İZBEP) and E-CommodityBazaar electronic trading platform.
During the visit where current situation of cotton in Türkiye and in the world was discussed, BCI CEO Mr. McClay asked Mr. Kocagöz his projections regarding the future of cotton in Türkiye. President Mr. Kocagöz said, "Turkish government has considerably increased its support to cotton in the last 2 years. Appropriate programmes, in particular, have begun to be implemented for cotton. We, as the National Cotton Council, come together with government officials periodically and share our views with them about various topics regarding cotton. The new programme that has been announced by our government recently and will start to be implemented as of 1 January 2017 also reflects our views that we shared with them during the meetings and will bring about a brighter future for cotton."
Talking on behalf of the BCI, the CEO Alan McClay stated that the BCI was still a new organization, kept growing day by day and aimed to have 1000 members by the year end. Mr. McClay also expressed that Türkiye was one of the most important partners of the BCI and it was very gratifying to see the growing amount of BCI-certified cotton consumption around the world.
Şükran Baycura, General Manager of Good Cotton Practices Association (IPUD), noted that the delegation would visit ELİDAŞ later in the day and get information about the cotton storage system used there. She added that they also would pay field visits in Söke Plain and explore the cotton harvest in-situ.
27.10.2016
