Poultry Meat Producers and Poulterers Association (BESD-BIR) General Secretary, Yüce Canoler, has said the association expects Turkey's poultry production to continue to increase in 2010, reports Today's Zaman.

Discussing the poultry industry's past year and expectations for 2010 yesterday (11 January), Mr Canoler said the association anticipated around a three to five per cent increase in 2009 year-end poultry meat production over 2008.

He added: "This increase could reach five per cent in 2010 over the preceding year."

The BESD-BIR head noted that increasing exports was the major driving force behind growth in production. He said the sector managed to improve starting in March 2009.

Mr Canoler said Russia has recently announced they would resume accepting poultry imports from Turkey, adding that "Officials from both sides are finalising the process to resume exports to Russia." Russia had banned the import of Turkish poultry products in 2008 due to an avian flu scare.

Mentioning the current problems in feed supply, he said the government should reconsider the recent regulations for genetically modified organisms (GMOs), according to Today's Zaman.

Mr Canoler said: "Producers mostly use soybeans to feed the animals. They have difficulty finding feed in the market and are about to run out of inventory because dealers are reluctant to export new raw materials."