Examination of the four selected food industry sub-sectors in Turkey and in the European Community

A Customs Union will be established between Turkey and the European Community in 1995. The establishment of this union has two essential realities in itself. Firstly, Turkey will be the first country to enter such a union without being a member of the Community. Secondly, Turkish companies will face intense competition from their European counterparts, providing quality standards, cost advantages and the ability to take advantage of the non-tariff barriers; rather than the pursuit of the increases and decreases in the customs duties and funds in order to get arbitrage opportunities from them, while ignoring the quality of the product most of the time. The four selected food industry sub-sectors to be examined are chocolate and confectionery, processed flour products, milk and dairy products and red meat industries. The reason for their being chosen as pilot sectors, is their involving the most intensely consumed products in Turkey and the European Community countries. Chocolate, confectionery and processed flour products constitute a total of 44.3% of the food products of the top ten sub-sectors consumed in the Community; in a similar manner, milk, dairy products and red meat products are the most consumed food products in Turkey.