The Turkish Commodity Exchange and the use of Electronic Warehouse Receipts (EWR) in financing the agricultural sector

In recent years, factors such as the climate crisis, the pandemic, international conflicts, supply chain disruptions, and trade restrictions have led to significant increases in commodity prices. This situation has enhanced the strategic importance of food supply security and agricultural commodities worldwide. In Turkey, various regulations have been implemented to ensure the effective and sustainable use of resources, secure food safety, and guarantee access to healthy food. In this context, the legal framework for the licensed warehousing system was established in 2005, and the first enterprise commenced operations in 2011. In recent years, investments have increased rapidly under the influence of government incentives, and storage capacity, which was 805 thousand tons in 2016, rose to approximately 12.9 million tons by 2025. In addition to ensuring that agricultural products are stored under appropriate conditions, the Turkish Agricultural Products Specialized Exchange (TURIB) was established in 2018 to enable electronic trading of these products through warehouse receipts representing ownership. This system has facilitated producers' access to financing and created an efficient ecosystem in agricultural markets. This study examines the functioning of licensed warehousing, TURIB, and the implementation of Electronic Warehouse Receipts (EWR), comparing academic studies on EWR in terms of methodology, datasets, and findings. The results indicate that EWR offers significant potential for institutionalizing agricultural trade and developing alternative financing models. However, to achieve wider adoption, it is necessary to increase user awareness, strengthen legal regulations, and support digital infrastructure.