Strong capabilities from start to end props up DOGAL's soar in agrochemical business

Agriculture is a key sector in Turkey, and agrochemical companies are an integral part of the sector. Turkey cultivates a variety of fields and cash crops, leading agrochemical companies to develop wide product portfolios. DOGAL is a company born out of this background.

In an interview, Murat Turkmenoglu, Board Member, Technical Marketing & Business Development at DOGAL, told AgroPages that Dogal ranks among the top three domestic Turkish companies, due to its laboratory, production and service capacities, sustainability and increasing market share, which it created in recent years. As well as Turkey, DOGAL also serves dealers and farmers in more than 17 countries. The company has the relevant capabilities, from start to end and from registration to supplying products to farmers. In addition to providing various products, DOGAL can also meet the diverse crop management needs of farmers through a strong technical support team.

Please introduce us to DOGAL Kimyevi Maddeler ve Zirai Ilaclar San ve Tic AS.

DOGAL (translated as PESTICIDES & AGROCHEMICALS INDUSTRY TRADE AS), is part of group companies, three agrochemicals and one in the food industry, which were established in 1989 in Istanbul, Turkey, by experienced players in the agrochemical field. DOGAL’s headquarter is located in the commercial center of Turkey, Istanbul, and its factory is located in the greenhouse capital of Turkey, Antalya. Together with the factory, the Antalya campus consists of high-tech QC laboratory and Research & Development Centre. With more than 200 employees, DOGAL has the relevant capabilities, from beginning to the end, through registration, chemical R&D, procurement, formulation, synthesis, QC, delivery and supply agrochemicals to all customers and farmers with technical support. 

DOGAL A.S. has regional offices and sales teams in agriculturally active regions of Turkey, with around 60 agronomists who can provide responsive customer service and technical support to farmers and customers. Outside Turkey, DOGAL A.S. is currently reaching dealers and farmers in more than 17 countries.

What are your company’s main businesses? What types of products does your company offer to the market? 

DOGAL A.S. has become a leading formulator, manufacturer, distributor and importer- exporter of more than 200 registered off-patent crop protection products (fungicides, insecticides, herbicides and nematicides) and plant growth regulators, as well as chelated micronutrients, general foliar and drip irrigation fertilizers certified by the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture, and other agro-products, most notably pH regulators, soil regulators, special plant feeds, adjuvants, sun screens for both crops and greenhouses. As DOGAL A.S., we are proud of our wide range of quality products and the responsive technical services we provide.

What markets do you sell your products in? What market has been your main recent focus?

Turkey has multicultural product trends. Citrus, cereals, stone and pome fruits, potatoes, nuts, maize, rice, cherries, olives, pistachios, lentils, undercover vegetables, grapes, walnuts, almonds and tobacco are some of the country’s leading products, which led us to develop a wide product portfolio. We focus on all kinds of Plant Protection Products (PPP). Although we are active in more than 17 countries, our highest market share is in Turkey. We actively serve over 1000 dealers in the Turkish market. Our Kyrgyzstan office serves its neighbors with eight employees.

Some of DOGAL's brand products

We continue our promotional activities to leading producers and agricultural enterprises in the market, with our products being selected in line with sustainable agriculture, with around 60 sales and technical engineers working in the field. Some of these products are Megafil Tablet, Nordox 75 WG, Super Artıran, Sun Stop, Greenhouse Shader, Durduran 3 C, Jasop, Fatcho 5 EC, Tripp 900 EC, Nergofex. As a result of our intensive work in recent years, we have made significant progress in the wheat market with our Megafil Tablet. Producers using Megafil Tablet have achieved a 10% to 15% yield increase in their wheat crops. The combined use of Megafil Tablet and Super Artıran has become a practice and is perceived as a guarantee of yield and quality by wheat producers. Our technological non-staining, superior quality liquid coppers, Jasop and Fatcho 5 EC, have become effective solutions against bacterial and fungal diseases affecting growers in Turkey and abroad, through their high formulation quality and effective performance in the field. Our special products, SunStop and Greenhouse Shader, which are used to protect crops from the negative effects of the sun, are used extensively by growers and offer many benefits. Our nematicide, Tripp 900 EC, has become the primary brand used by growers, providing effective nematode control in the tomato, pepper and potato market. In variable climatic conditions, our PGRs are among the most frequently applied products. Durduran 3 C is mainly used on cotton and cereals, and Nergofex is common among kiwifruit producers.

Could you give us an overview of the Turkish agrochemical market? What is the competitive landscape? As a local company, what is your position in the market?

The recent investments made in pesticide production in Turkey and the increase in the production quality and capacity, combined with a considerable increase in transportation fees due to COVID-19 have made Turkey a new base in terms of plant protection production and logistics, opening up to the Turkic Republics, Africa, the EU and the Middle East. 

Agriculture is Turkey's largest employer, representing 25% of the workforce and contributing 8% to the country's economic activity. Some 80% of the plant protection market in Turkey consists of 14 multinational and local companies. Multinational companies import half the PPPs and local firms formulate in their production facilities. PPPs play a key role in generating employment in our country, so we aim to provide our customers with PPPs at reasonable prices while sustaining high levels of quality and service. We continuously invest in developing our production capacity, QC and R&D laboratory, which we have doubled in 2018 in line with this goal.

DOGAL ranks among the top three domestic companies, due to its laboratory, production and service investments, as well as its sustainability and increasing market share it achieved in recent years.

DOGAL is a leading formulator of agrochemicals in Turkey. Please provide more details about your company’s capacities in manufacturing and formulation processing?

DOGAL’s high quality products are produced at a high-standard factory in the Antalya Organized Industrial Zone, licensed by the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture. In our factory, SL, LS, EC, SC, FS, CS, OD, WP, DS, SP, EW, FF, DF/WDG, tablet and powder manufacturing and filling lines are available separately for every type of plant protection and nutrition products.

A DOGAL, our annual liquid formulation capacity is 15.000 MT and our powder/granule formulation capacity is 5.000 MT. Our sun protection product production capacity is 5.000 MT/year. 

We are an IMS, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 certified company engaged in manufacturing pesticide and other agrochemicals. 

DOGAL is able to issue the ATR.1 Certificate and EUR1 Movement Certificate.

DOGAL has had solid collaboration with Chinese companies for many years. How do you work with each other to explore the overseas market? Can you share any success story with us?

We have been working with Chinese companies for 32 years and regularly attend Chinese fairs. We maintain regular and mutually trusting relationships with all companies. We establish relationships based on quality and mutual trust in our choices. We have nearly 300 licenses belonging to two of our companies, and we prioritize companies that provide regular file services, especially in our registration search for newly off-patented products, so it is our priority to work with them.

Chinese companies who have obtained registrations in Europe attract our attention more, because we want to be in the European market with our current export power. We aim to cooperate with these Chinese companies.

Our cooperation with Chinese companies, through our advanced production infrastructure, will increase opportunities for these companies in Europe, Africa and the Middle East and will provide them with a safe logistics center.

In addition, we aim to present our quality liquid and powder fertilizer portfolio, which we produce in our own fertilizer production facilities, to the Chinese agricultural market, which we have served for many years.

In recent years, capital markets have become increasingly interested in some emerging sectors, such as bio-solutions. How do you view these trends? What sectors will DOGAL likely invest in?

As a company in the rapidly changing international agricultural market, we closely monitor innovations and aim to advance our production and licensing investments, to increase our biological products portfolio.

Under this context, we evaluated new investment opportunities related to biological production in our technology development center, in addition to our existing factory in the Antalya Organized Industrial Zone. We also have projects related to biological production. Negotiations with biological producers from various countries are continuing, and we are closely following the developments related to Chinese companies. We also examine and deal with Start-up biological companies for strategic cooperation.

What are your strategic plans and expectations for the future development of DOGAL?

We closely monitor trends in the changing world of the plant protection market and examine the EU Green Deal Agreement in great detail while determining our strategy. We are trying to determine our strategy according to our predicted results for 2030 to 2040. We especially consider the demands of export markets, follow the list of products banned in Europe very closely, and determine our strategies to ensure compliance with the EU list. Considering the targets of the Green Deal Agreement 2030, we aim to expand our portfolio of newly patented assets, biopesticides and fertilizers.

This article was initially published in AgroPages' 'Annual Review 2021' magazine.