FROM THE PAST TOWARDS THE FUTURE :  GAZIANTEP COMMODITY EXCHANGE
Gaziantep commodity Exchange (GTE) is a  public entity  which has been founded for the purpose of engaging in the sale and purchase of the products which are transacted in the exchange within the scope of the law on the association of chambers and exchanges of  Turkey, no. 5174 as well as for determining, registering and proclaming the prices that  emerge in the exchange .
Gaziantep Commodity Exchange which has been founded on August 15, 1958 and  provides service to the farmers and producers in the region in  its modern premises in GATEM since 1997 aims at meeting the needs of all its members and South-eastern Anatolian region.

Innovative and pioneering  

GTE which ensures  the   formation of free market conditions by letting the buyers and sellers meet, ensures that the products find their real value in this way. Gaziantep Commodity Exchange which had led the way in many respects with its modern understanding of exchange operations also provides an important service to   industrialists in the region by operating the most  comprehensive modern foodstoff control laboratory there. GTE which may be said to  be the capital of Turkey for agriculture based industry aims at realizing visionary projects like  exchange for product specialization, licensed warehousing and meat exchange in a short time in addition to the pioneering projects like the platform of electronic product bonds and mobile application which it had already put into service .
Within this  framework, register office of Gaziantep commodity exchange which is located in the organized industrial zone of Gaziantep makes it  possible for the members which are  seated around this region to complete their transactions  without  the need to come to the central office.

Special foodstuff control laboratory   

The  laboratory of Gaziantep Commodity Exchange the foundation of which dates back to   the year 1995 has been authorized by the ministry of   foodstuff, agriculture and husbandry as a special foodstuff control laboraty which is authorized to issue official analysis reports for imported and exported goods as well as upon request . This laboratory is accredited for carrying out alphatoxin analysis in the content of pistachio, nuts and pepper, analysis of  protein in cereals and cereal products as well as analysis of humidity, ash and microbiological analysis  of all substances. Besides, one hundred and ten different  types of analysis of cereal products , vegetable oil and other product groups are carried out .

Membership profile of Gaziantep Commodity Exchange

Besides sole proprietorships,  real person members, joint stock and limited liability companies,  cooperatives are also members of Gaziantep Commodity Exchange with  legal personality. Members which  are  real or legal persons are classified in the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth degress depending on their capital amount.
GTE which has closed 1958,  the year of its foundation, with 187  members has  reached 806  members in its 25th anniversary of foundation and today has reached  a total number of 1086 members. It is among the first six exchanges in which the highest  number of companies have been  registered.

The corporate and administrative   structure  of Gaziantep Commodity Exchange

11  oocupational groups take part in Gaziantep Commodity Exchange. There are twelve professional committees of these occupational groups which are formed by 5 or 7 members  depending on  the number of their members.  Besides there is an assembly of the Exchange in which all occupational groups are represented and  is formed  by two or three members from each of the professional committees, depending on the number of members of each occupational group . Members of the  assembly, the number of which is 27, are elected for a period of 4 years. There is also a board of directors formed by seven members which has a term of Office of four years, within the body of Gaziantep Commodity Exchange. There are also departments subordinated to the general secretariat of Gaziantep Commodity Exchange like  registration , statistics, private secretary, information processing, office of conduct grade , accounting and  sale halls and approximately  30 experienced personnel members are  employed in these departments.

An overview on  the future and objectives

Gaziantep Commodity Exchange which had made an application for  obtaining ISO 9001 2000 quality management  system in the year 2005 with a view to developing its services and increasing the level of customer  satisfaction as an institution with a clear vision and high goals parallel to the changing time and developing technology had its quality of services registered by obtaining the certificate of  quality management  system in the year 2006. 
GTE continues its services as an exchange which has been accredited for the seventh period by TOBB within the scope of the chamber/exchange accreditaion project and It has been  stated that, during the inspections for accreditation  GTE has a  high potential directed at increasing the quality  of  services provided for the members .
GTE which has a total  transaction volume of 4.832.858.922;00 TL as of the year 2013 according to the statistics prepared by the association  of chambers and exchanges of Turkey ranks among the first six exchanges out of  113  commodity exchanges in Turkey in general.
Gaziantep Commodity Exchange has developed a strategic action plan within the scope of  accreditation    for the purpose of carrying its services focused on member satisfaction forward and adapting to the developments in the world  . This plan is the product of a special study which has been prepared for providing  guidance for  the corporate identity  of GTE and for determining what to do and why  as well as for explaining its objectives and activities.  
GTE has also launched associated  exchange activities for the purpose of carrying out comparisons and  performance evaluations within the scope of the project of chamber/ exchange accreditation, increasing  the exchange of  mutual information , producing joint projects that contribute to the development  of the exchanges and raising   the quality of service even to higher levels.
Gaziantep Commodity Exchange has assumed a  historical mission for the protection , keeping the records of  and  encouraging the production of  its cultural product , namely pistachio  and aims at letting pistachio  live   its golden age through the initiatives that it had launched with the ministry of foodstuff, agriculture and husbandry.
 Besides providing the existing exchange  services ,

Gaziantep Commodity Exchange, which makes a contribution to the commercial, socio-economic  and cultural life of the city locally and of the country in general with an  awareness of its social responsibility has adopted the principle of providing the  best service to the  turkish farmers and enterpreneurs in a   serial manner as an integral part of the world exchanges  on the basis of a global understanding .
Gaziantep Commodity Exchange which is sensitive to the problems of the city in which it is located and accepts as its duty to add value to the society with which it lives together  continues to provide serious contributions to the life of the city just as it had done in the past, with the social and cultural activities  which it had realized.