The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is extending up to €20 million loan in financing to Tat Gida, one of Türkiye’s key food producers specialising in plant based food. Tat Gida the market leader in branded tomato paste, ketchup and canned food.

The new EBRD loan will finance Tat Gida’s initiatives for increasing productivity and capacity increases according to the company’s growth plans.

Tat Gida, recently celebrating 55 years in the business, is part of the Koç Group, Türkiye’s largest industrial and services group in terms of revenues and exports.

Speaking on the project, Natalya Zhukova, EBRD’s Agribusiness Sector Team Director said: “We are happy to support Tat Gida’s growth trajectory and sustainability credentials. The recent global crises have made it clear that food security is a key concern of our era. We must work with producers who prioritize healthy, sustainable modes of production in the food sector, and we believe Tat Gida is a perfect example for that.”

As part of the project, EBRD and Tat Gida will also collaborate by supporting youth inclusion in the agribusiness sector in Türkiye by introducing a new training program aimed at equipping young people with the skills needed to adopt modern agricultural technologies and digital applications for high-value food processing activities. Tat Gida will also work to reinforce its existing sustainable initiatives by enhancing digital transformation in agriculture and food production according to its corporate sustainability strategies.

Evren Albaş, Tat’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “Tat has always been committed to serving natural products to our consumers with full traceability, high quality, and world class food safety standards. We lead the sector within innovation, digitalization, and smart agriculture practices. We are very pleased to make an agreement with EBRD to increase our investments and develop our sustainable initiatives.”

The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in Türkiye. It has invested more than €17 billion in 385 projects in the country since 2009, with the overwhelming majority of those projects being in the private sector.