The General situation of vegetable oil industry in Turkey and management problems of the vegetable oil firms in the Çukurova region

Although, Turkey has suitable agricultural land to produce oil seeds, a great deal of oil seed and crude oil are imported every year, since the amount of the required vegetable oil hasn't been met with domestic production. This causes the loss of foreign currency in the country. In this research, firstly, the production of oil seeds and the situation of vegetable oil industry in the world and in Turkey were investigated. The support policies which were applied to oil seeds in Turkey, the capacities of crude oil, liquid oil and margarine sectors, production, consumption, import, export affairs were discussed and the problems were brought out. In the second part of the research, vegetable oil firms in Çukurova Region were analysed. Investigation data was collected by questionnaire from the managers of 1 5 active firms -7 crude oil, 5 liquid oil, 2 liquid and margarine and 1 margarine- The capacities of the firms, technological levels, operation systems, the amount of production, the supply of raw material, financal states, marketing, management and personnal affairs were examined and problems and solutions were discussed. Determined problems are changing from firm to firm, but the lack of raw materials and instability of their prices, inactive capacity, the lack of the financing and unfair competition are defined as the common promlems nearly for all of the firms. Key words: Vegetable oil, oil seeds, Çukurova Region, administration problems.