MANILA, Philippines — Turkish-owned Bereketli & Ugur Group has expressed keen interest to put up a milling wheat plant in the country as imports of flour continue to increase in light of higher prices of locally-milled flour.

This was announced by Francis Chua, chairman emeritus of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who met with the Turkish group recently.

According to Chua, the Turkish group is the same group that owns the PT Golden Grand Mills in Jakarta. According to Chua, the company is looking for a local partner. The Turkish flour miller plans to put up the equity required in the construction of the milling plant while the local partner will provide the location for the manufacturing plant.

The group is looking at two plant models, a 600-ton per day plant and a 300-ton per day plant, he said.

“The group is not one of the biggest in Turkey, but one of the economically viable flour millers in that country, which produces wheat,” he added.

Chua noted that Turkish businessmen have been very active doing business in the country and Turkey is one of the biggest exporters of flour.

“They would like to put up their own factory here so that if they encounter problems it is easier to respond immediately,” he said. The Turkish firm, however, does not intend to import from Turkey all their wheat requirements but from several countries including Canada, US and Australia to get the right flour mix.

“I just learned that a flour mill will need different kinds of wheat for mixing. The cheapest quality of flour is the one being used for pandesal and the best flour quality is for cakes and loaf,” he noted.

The country’s flour importation is placed at 114,000 metric tons last year or 4.560 million bags of flour. This is expected to grow to 150,000 MT this year or 6 million bags with Indonesian flour aggressively penetrating the market.

Walter Co. of Philippine Baking Industry Group said that of the 114,000 MT flour imports, Turkish flour accounts for the bulk of 94,000 MT while Indonesian imports contribute about 20,000 MT. Together, imported flour accounts for 5 percent of total demand for flour in the country but the projected increase in flour importation in 2012 would jack up its share to 7.5 percent if not eat up 10 percent of the market.

The country’s 11 flour millers chalked up the country’s flour supply with imports hardly penetrating the market following scare tactics employed against Turkish and other flour imports. Local flour demand has been placed at 2 million MT.

“The quality of Turkish flour is not far from the local flour, which is sourced from the US,” Co said. Imported flour is also cheaper by P50 to P60 per bag.

The Turkish flour, however, is unbleached so it needs wheat from the US, Canada and Australia to mix with it to make it whiter. (BCM)