Çağdaş Piyancı (38), an electric technician living in Denizli, started producing mussel farming nets, which are used to cultivate street food mussels imported by Turkey from New Zealand and Spain, and began exporting them to Spain, as well as Italy and Morocco. After working in his profession for a while, Piyancı, residing in the Merkezefendi district and working as an electric technician, sold weaving machine parts to textile factories in Denizli, a city known for textiles. Intrigued by how mussels, a street food he enjoys, are grown, Piyancı decided to learn more about mussel cultivation.
Discovering that mussels are grown in nets in the sea, Piyancı found out that these nets are only produced in New Zealand and Spain globally, and imported to Turkey from Spain. Learning that around 100,000 tons of mussels are consumed annually in Turkey through unofficial figures, Piyancı went to Spain to visit mussel farming net production facilities and farms, observed the process, and took samples from the nets. Returning to Turkey, he designed a machine to produce mussel nets after a 2-year R&D study, creating a machine that combines 96 cotton threads and successfully making mussel farming nets.
Establishing a facility and manufacturing nets on 10 different machines, Piyancı began exporting the nets. He stated that he is the only person in Turkey producing mussel nets from cotton thread and that the facility has a 60-ton net production capacity, adding, “While Turkey used to import nets from Spain, we are now exporting nets to Spain. We have become the third country globally to produce mussel farming nets, after New Zealand and Spain.” Piyancı noted that companies in Turkey producing mussels meet their net requirements from Spain, stating:
“I was always curious about how mussels, a street food, were produced. I learned that they are cultivated inside nets placed in the sea. I also found out that the nets used for mussel cultivation in our country come from New Zealand and Spain. I went to Spain to learn how this process is carried out and took samples.” “I returned to Denizli and conducted research for 2 years. Then we built the machines and started production. We have been producing for 3 years now. We are the largest producer in Turkey and the third country globally producing mussel farming nets. We export 50% of our production. We export to Spain, Italy, and Morocco. While initially wondering how we could sell nets to Spain, today we take pride in our exports.”