Middle East Focus: Turkey oil brand SUNKOY, dairy giant Baladna, Middle East honey expansion and more feature in our round-up

Oil turmoil: Turkish brand SUNKOY eyes 10% of country’s edible oil exports in 2023​

Turkey’s newest edible oil brand SUNKOY is targeting a 10% stake in the country’s oil exports by 2023, despite facing speed bumps from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

According to the founder and CEO of the brand’s parent company HVS Group, Mikail Cosar, the turmoil did affect the firm’s production plans and supply chain. Consequently, the launch of the oil range had to be postponed to May instead of early 2022.

Despite the delays, Cosar shared that Turkish edible oil exports managed to reach US$1.7bn in the first half of this year, and the value is expected to be the same for the second half. Mirroring that projection, SUNKOY is targeting a market share of 3% to 5% this year and up to 10% for 2023. To achieve this goal, the brand has set its sights on numerous markets, chiefly the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa and the US.

Daring dairy dive: Baladna confirms plans for 2025 dairy product commercialisation in Malaysia​

Qatar dairy powerhouse Baladna has confirmed plans for a dairy venture in Malaysia that is expected to produce hundreds of millions of litres of fresh milk to plug existing gaps in local production.

Baladna has been discussing its entry into Malaysia with local government and industry leaders since as far back as 2020, with then-CEO Malcolm Jordan telling us back then that Malaysia is a prime candidate to benefit from Baladna’s expertise in establishing dairy self-sufficiency.

Sweet success: Turkish honey brand Polenkoy achieves 30% growth in India, Australia, eyes wider-Asia​

Turkey’s honey brand Polenkoy is targeting a deeper reach into the Asian market after achieving 30% growth year-on-year through its partners in India and Australia.

The brand has achieved its goals in the Middle East, India and Australia; hence, it is targeting more Asian markets, like China, Hong Kong, Japan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore.

“The Asia and Asia Pacific region is important as its people practise healthy lifestyles compared to other parts of the world. This philosophy is important when it comes to marketing our products in the region. We are currently carrying out research and development (R&D) on how to enter more of such markets.​

'Meat is not the enemy': Why the plant-based sector might not be the future of protein – Growth Asia Summit​

One of Australia’s leading nutrition experts and senior CEOs will be making the case for meat at our forthcoming Growth Asia Summit, in the wake of an explosion of interest in the plant-based protein sector.

Nathan Cheong, CEO at Melrose Health, will take the stage to challenge the notion that ‘meat is the enemy’ at the three day event, which will take place at the iconic Marina Bay Sands venue in Singapore from 11-13 October.

Hot targets: South Australia food export strategy to focus on seven major APAC markets over next five years​

South Australia’s Food and Beverage Five Year Export Strategy will focus on 10 priority markets over the next five years till 2027, with seven of these centred within the Asia Pacific region.

Australia has traditionally placed a lot of focus on its fresh agricultural produce when it comes to exports, in line with the efforts the government has put into its Brand Australia branding, which is aligned with freshness and quality particularly when it comes to food products.