The Ordu Commodity Exchange was founded on August 16, 1936 under the name of “Ordu Commodity Exchange and Product Exchange” under the presidency of Mr. Baha TEGÜN.
The Exchange, which was established within the Chamber of Commerce and Industry with the law number 655 that was in effect at that time, served in the same department with the Chamber. This building, which the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Commodity Exchange serve jointly, was destroyed in the 1939 Erzincan earthquake. The Ordu Commodity Exchange, which has been the 20th Exchange in Turkey when it is established, had 50 members. The Exchange, which has increased the number of its members to 138 in the following 10 years, has increased the number of members to 370 in 2013. The law numbered 5174 has reorganized the commodity exchanges by the contemporary norm and paved the way terminating the inactive members’ membership. Hereby, the member lists of the commodity exchange have been updated by removing the people, who have been through with trading, from membership.
The Commodity Exchanges has conformed the law numbered 4355 in the election, which has been held on April 12th, 1947, and the law numbered 5590 in the election, which has been held on September, 28th, 1951. Because of the law numbered 5590 couldn’t satisfy the need within years, the law numbered 5174, which has been enacted on May 18th, 2004 and entered into force on Jul 1st, 2004, has redesigned the commercial exchanges’ operation and legal structure. The article 53rd of the law has for the first time stated the definition of the commodity exchange, and determined the principals of the operation and establishment.
Our exchange, which has been founded with the name of the Ordu Commodity and Product Exchange, has changed its name as The Ordu Commodity Exchange in 1947 and came until today. The first official center of the Ordu Commodity Exchange is the building, which has been used with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry jointly and destroyed in the Erzincan earthquake in 1939. The building was destroyed in the earthquake because it was duplex and was constructed in the style of the old structure. The commodity exchange had established on the simple and basic structure in those years. Today, the exchange center has been located on the 1288 square meters, and, the land, which the exchange has been located on there, has been bought for 15k Turkish Lira in 1948.
The replenishment construction of the first stock exchange building, which built on the land on the Süleyman Felek Street, was estimated as 70.000 Turkish Liras. The single-floor stock exchange building, which is 120 square meters, was completed in 1951 and started its operations. The building, which we now call the “Old Service Building”, was completed in 1964 as a working-inn, with a usage area of 650 square meters. The passage, which was still active on the ground floor, brought a significant activity to the commercial life in the city at that time. The remaining incapable of the single-floor building brought the construction of the first floor of the building, which was designed as a business house, to the agenda as the commodity exchange building and this new building, which was 650 square meters in 1990, was moved to there.
In 1994, the first one-floor stock exchange building was demolished and projected as “Hazelnut Product Exchange” and the foundation of the building, which it is used today, has been laid. The first 3 floors of the new building, which is constructed as 5 floors on a 655 square meters floor, are used as of today. The 4th and 5th floors, where the laboratories and conference halls will be located, are still under construction.
The Ordu Commodity Exchange consists of 5 Professional Groups.
1- Fresh And Dried Fruits
2- Livestock
3- Vegetable Oils
4- Milling Products
5- Various Food Items (Honey)
Among these, “Hazelnut”, which is included in “Fresh and Dried Fruits Group”, constitutes 95% of the total transaction volume.
Ordu, supplies alone 25-30% of Turkey’s hazelnut production. This means that 180 to 200 thousand tons of annual production. Naturally, it is quite natural that hazelnut registration has a large place in the stock market trading volume. As can be seen in the comparison of annual trading volumes, the Ordu Commodity Exchange ranks first in this category among the stock markets, which make hazelnut registration. Although the Livestock was added to the quotation list in 2000, there is no stock market activity under modern norms because there is no livestock market under the control of the stock market. At the point of establishing a livestock market and stock exchange under modern norms, joint work is being carried out with the Ordu Municipality and projects have been prepared for the establishment of the market in a 10-decares area in Eskipazar, our city. Feasibility studies are ongoing at the establishment of the market.
20-25% of the honey production in Turkey is produced by beekeepers, which are from Ordu. The number of beekeepers and beehives are in the first rank in Turkey. In addition, Ordu has the “Beekeeping Research Institute”, which is first and only located in Turkey. In addition to all these, the honey has been approved to add to the quotation list, after beekeeping and honey has started to become widespread as a commercial activity. Our exchange has been added to the quotation list after approval of the ministry of industry and commerce in 2007.
The factories, which processes wheat into flour, after economic crises were closed one by one. In addition to the economic crises, the problem of the excess capacity in this sector has paralyzed the sector over time. Resulting from government promotion the number of facilities, which have the capacity to produce flour, have increased and escalated competition between the facilities. The escalated competition consequential losses have caused the shutdown of the facilities. The problem of the more than adequate capacity continues still in the market. The last factory in the city has liquidated in 2006. (20 million tons of wheat is produced in Turkey. And, 16 million tons of flour can be produced from the harvested crop. However, the capacity of the established flour factories is 38 million tons. This means that Turkey has 22 million tons overcapacity in the production of flour sector. The overcapacity causes the operation of the factories unutilized capacity. The factories, which cannot return profit maximization because of the unutilized capacity, have collapsed. There are no flour facilities anymore in the city.)
There are three companies operating in the sector of vegetable oil. The most important and the oldest factory, which has been changed the name as “Ordu Yağ Sanayi A.Ş.” in 2004 and established as Fiskobirlik subsidiary in 1957, “Ordu Soya A.Ş.”. Ordu Yağ Sanayi A.Ş., which raises their sights day by day, has attained a respectable place in the market by producing the “Çotanak” branded oil, which produced from hazelnut. In addition, they plan to create a new product range, which includes soaps and detergents produced by hazelnut oil. The factory has an important place in exports in Turkey.
Founding Management of Ordu Commodity Exchange consisted of the following names;
Baha TEGÜN First Chief (Chairman)
Ömer AKYAZI Second Director (Deputy Chairman)
Mustafa HEKİM (Member)
Mehmet AKYAZI (Member)
Dursun GÜRSOY (Member)
Ziver AKIN (Member)
Ahmet Cemal MAĞDEN (Member)
Halis MUTLU / Exchange Commissioner (Secretary General)
Our Field of Activity – Our Service Concept
Article 30 of Law No. 5174 determines the working areas of exchanges. Accordingly, the working area of the Ordu Commodity Exchange (OCE) covers all Ordu cities except Fatsa and Ünye districts and the towns connected to these districts. The Ordu Commodity Exchange carefully records the trade of the products in its quotation in the working area and especially declares the prices determined for hazelnuts on its website, in electronic boards located in the centre and districts. The most obvious indicator of the OCE’s of service concept; although it is obligatory to register on the Commodity Exchanges with article 32 of the Law No. 5174, the Ordu Commodity Exchange considers always to serve their member as member-oriented and member satisfaction-based rather than behave them as supreme board and that it has established its corporate structure on this understanding. On the basis of this service understanding, the provision of article 32 of the Law No. 5174 is applied with care, in order to hold harmless the traders, which are in the products listed in the stock market quota.