Seafood Export to 5 Countries from the Seafood Processing Plant in Konya

The seafood processing plant operating in Hüyük, Konya sends processed seafood to Germany, France, the Netherlands, Russia and Libya.

Yayçet Fisheries Processing Facility, operating in the town center of Hüyük, brings fish products, especially sea fish, grown on farms, through a series of processes, to the consumers. Ramazan Karabıyık, the operating manager of the facility, stated that “the facility was established to evaluate the fishery products from Beyşehir Lake. In the following years, farm fish started to be processed as fillets in the factory. Products that are frozen at minus 35-40 degrees are packaged and made ready for sale. In the facility, mainly freshwater bass is filleted and exported abroad. In the past, 17-18 enterprises were filleting the fish from Beyşehir Lake and selling them abroad. There were so many fish in the lake that these businesses were not enough to process freshwater fish. When the amount of fish in Beyşehir Lake decreased, we had to turn to seafood. We continue to process products grown on farms or from the sea in our facility for 10-15 years. With the extinction of fish in the lake, the number of firms doing this business has decreased a lot. There are very few businesses left in the area.

Konya's fish is in demand from many countries

Karabıyık stated that “The facility processes sea fish, sardines, toric and mullet, as well as farm-raised salmon, sea bream and sea bass. The production capacity of our facility is around one thousand tons per year and we are trying to expand the capacity. We employ 30-35 employees, mostly women. Our products are in demand from many countries, especially European countries. We ship to Germany, France, the Netherlands, Russia and Libya, and in the domestic market mainly to hotels in tourism regions.

We sell an average of 2 million dollars a year abroad and we aim to export and produce more. The fact that there is a factory that processes sea fish in Konya creates surprises some customers. They ask, 'What is it like to have a fish facility in Konya, why are these fish here?' Since this facility emerged from Beyşehir Lake, a fish processing culture was formed. We also expect to be able to return to the days when we were processing sander lucioperca because there is no limit to the demand for sander lucioperca abroad.”