The 2019 export stars of the chemical industry, whose vital importance was once again understood in the pandemic process, were determined. The awards given by Istanbul Chemicals and Products Exporters’ Association (IKMIB) every year in order to honor and encourage its member companies in the chemical industry for their success in exports have also been found its owners this year. In the IKMIB Export Stars Award Ceremony, which was organized online for the first time due to a pandemic, 140 firms which ranked in the top 5 in 28 categories were awarded.
The chemical sector, which is a strategic sector that touches many sectors directly or indirectly by producing raw materials, semi-finished products and products, has achieved a great success by breaking an historical record with an export of 20.6 billion dollars in 2019. With a share of 11,44 in Turkey’s total exports percent, the chemical industry grew 18.54 percent in 2019. Representing approximately 7 thousand exporting companies from many different sub-sectors from plastic to cosmetics, medicine to rubber, from medical to dye, IKMIB carried out more than 50 percent of Turkey’s total chemical exports.
The stars of exports, which had a large share in this success of the sector and realized the most chemical exports in 2019, were determined. The 2019 IKMIB Export Stars Award Ceremony, held for the fifth time this year, was held online. The online award ceremony, organized for the first time by IKMIB, was broadcast live on the Youtube channel and website of IKMIB. With the grace of Turkey Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan, Turkey Exporters Assembly (TIM) President Ismail Gülle, and Istanbul Chemicals and Chemical Products Exporters’ Association (IKMIB) Chairman Adil Pelister joined the ceremony, Oylum Talu moderated this award ceremony which was held on July 7, 2020. In the 2019 IKMIB Export Stars Award Ceremony, 140 firms that entered the top five in 28 categories in total in the sub-sector and product groups of chemistry were awarded. 2019 export champion in the first three companies in the chemical industry, SOCAR Turkey Aegean Oil Refinery,
Ciner Ic ve Dıs Ticaret A.Ş. and Eti Maden. Reza Bozoklar, Vice President, SOCAR Turkey Aegean Oil Refinery, Ömer Çatal, General Directorate of Marketing and Sales Department, Eti Maden, and Mahmut Kurşun, Glass and Chemicals Vice President, Ciner Ic ve Dıs Ticaret A.Ş. attended the ceremony with a video conference and made his speeches.
Ruhsar Pekcan: “The chemical industry is one of the strategic sectors for our country ”
Speaking at the ceremony organized by the umbrella organization of IKMIB which is an important part in the chemical industry, Ruhsar Pekcan, Minister of Trade, Republic of Turkey, said, “This award ceremony will also be the first award ceremony of exporters’ unions in digital media. Organizing such an award ceremony in the pandemic process, rewarding our achievements will encourage us for our next steps and goals. There will be morale and motivation for the business world. The chemical industry is one of the strategic sectors for our country. We aim to attract more investments to Turkey in the chemical industry. We started the normalization process in our country together with Europe. We managed this process very proactively in our country. We, as the Ministry, have put into practice the contactless trade practice in order to minimize the economy and to affect the trade least. During this period, we worked in full harmony and coordination with all our Ministers under the presidency of our President. In this process, we have provided a very good example of private sector and state cooperation and solidarity together.”
Stating that they started to receive positive signals regarding the return to normal in exports, Pekcan said, “In June, our exports increased by 35 percent compared to our May exports. There is a 24 percent increase in our chemical exports compared to May. Hopefully, we expect this increase trend in all our sectors to increase much more rapidly and rise upwards. As the Ministry, we are more than ever willing to work in collaboration with our support. In the forthcoming period, Turkey to strengthen its position in global supply chains and more effective on the ground will not be surprising. At this point, we expect and support our chemical industry to strengthen its position in global supply chains. We invite our industry to benefit from the support we provide as a Ministry. In 2019, 171 fairs were included in the scope of support for the total chemical industry. 13 UR-GE Project continues successfully. 20 UR-GE Projects have been completed. Within the scope of the Turqualite program, 24 brands of 22 companies from the chemical industry benefit from Turqualite supports. 16 brands of 15 companies also benefit from our brand supports. We organized a sectoral trade delegation to 13 countries under the leadership of our Ministry in the chemical sector and we provided 4 500 meetings with the procurement committees. We have also taken very serious steps in digitalization. IKMIB was one of the exporters’ associations that followed this closely. IKMIB realized our first Virtual Trade Delegation to Latin America. I congratulate the IKMIB management for organizing the first digital awards ceremony and the first digital trade delegation.”
İsmail Gülle: “The target of the sector is over $ 20 billion”
Pointing out that 2019 IKMIB Export Stars Awards Ceremony held for the first time in the digital environment would be an occasion to start, İsmail Gülle, Chairman Turkey Exporters Assembly (TIM), stated that despite the challenging conditions in the pandemic period, the export figures of June were at a record level and this result will be the harbinger of new records. İsmail Gülle continued his words as follows: “The determination and tenacity of exporters facilitated the difficult and eliminated the obstacles. The successful test given by our exporters in extraordinary conditions is almost an engagement of how bright the future of Turkish exports is. We have exceeded the pre-epidemic figures and started our performance beyond normal. Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan took care of all problems of the export family in this difficult period. I believe the steps taken by our Ministry of Commerce for export in the pandemic process will be the infrastructure of the export of the next period. I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Minister for his endless support to the export family and his approach that prioritizes exports.”
Expressing that the chemical industry has made a significant contribution to the success in exports, İsmail Gülle continued as follows: “In the last month of the normalization process, our sector, with an increase of 10.2 percent, realized an export of 1.4 billion dollars, is ‘new normal and beyond normal’” Our chemicals industry was the sector that exports to most countries in 2019. This shows that our exporters have achieved market diversification in the chemical industry. In 2019, our export of chemical substances to 140 countries increased. The architects of this success are among us today. I sincerely thank all of our award-winning exporters for their outstanding efforts. It is up to us to take this success even further. Our country’s exporter holds the competitive edge in the 163 different 6-pack GTIP-coded product in the chemicals sector. Reflecting the strength of the chemical products industry with a competitive product range on the field will be the main factor that will distinguish the Turkish exporter from its competitors. Our most important target is to increase the annual exports of our industry to over 20 billion dollars even in a year where such a decrease in global trade has been experienced. As TIM, we are confident that we will achieve these successes with the intense efforts of our exporters, the support of our government, the work of us and our association.”
Adil Pelister: “The Stars of Export Awards are our pride, and making our first digital award ceremony is another occasion.”
Stating that they held the IKMIB Export Stars Award Ceremony, which they held for the fifth time this year, under the conditions described as new normal, due to the pandemic, Adil Pelister, Chairman of Istanbul Chemicals and Products Exporters’ Association (IKMIB), stressed the pride of IKMIB’s Stars of Export Award Ceremony. Attaching attention to the fact that digital possibilities have brought them some firsts, Pelister said, “In May, we had our first digital trade delegation in Colombia. It is also another pride to be holding our first digital award ceremony under the roof of TIM. The first item in our election manifesto was digitalism. Since then, we have been in digital transformation with our Ministry of Commerce and TIM presidency, and we will continue to be. In 2019, we broke records in total exports as well as in our chemical exports. Our total country exports increased by 180.5 billion dollars, and our total chemical industry exports grew by 18.5 percent compared to 2018, reaching 20.6 billion dollars with 11.4 percent share in our country’s total exports. In the chemical sector in 2019 by signing a huge success, the automotive sector, we completed the second row after year. In addition to the products in our chemical industry, we also provide at least one more contribution by providing raw materials and semi-products to 27 other sectors. While there were many questions such as trade wars between the USA and China, the Brexit issue, the Iranian embargo, the Syrian war in 2019, we still broke records. In addition to breaking the export records in 2019, we have carried out many activities such as our R&D delegations, international fair national participation organizations, purchasing delegations, competitions that support branding and R&D. The world’s four corners are d to our country and our industry, we introduce, we have signed the agreement, we sold our products to the world.”
“Our efforts to establish a first in Turkey continues Chemistry Technology Center”
Evaluating 2020 year, Pelister said, “As the chemical industry, we aimed to make 2 3 billion dollars export target in 2020 and we plan to capture the many organizations that figure. However, due to the Corona Pandemic, an extraordinary situation covering the whole world has been experienced and still unfortunately continues to be experienced. B although u mess as we capture the chemical industry 8 billion 640 million dollars of export figures as of June 2020. Our exports increased significantly in June compared to the previous months. Our belief is that positive air will continue to increase in the coming months and we will reach the figure of 20 billion dollars last year. At the same time, support for the real sector, which wants to continue its production and investments by facilitating access to finance, continues. I would like to express my gratitude to our esteemed Minister of Trade, our esteemed President, our esteemed Trade Minister, our precious bureaucrats, whose presence we have always felt, as they have shown the will to make many vital decisions quickly. Now while establishing a new world must be able to produce and export value-added products with high technology and economies of scale we need now modeling. At this point, we have to reconsider R&D support and true innovation. As IKMIB, we will support this issue with our efforts to establish a “Chemistry Technology Center”. In this center, there will be digital solutions that meet the needs of our accredited laboratories, digital libraries, start-up areas, conference rooms and sub-sectors. With such a central aspect of our Turkey will be a first. I would also like to thank the Minister of Commerce for supporting our initiative to establish a chemical technology center.”
“We have complete belief that we will be attacking again in 2021”
Declaring that the chemicals industry will become the largest sector in Turkey’s exports before the 2030, Pelister said, “The new digital age, based on high technology, to see the growth by producing world class, our industry will continue to make a huge thrill. I wish Allah’s mercy upon our citizens especially our healthcare professionals who died due to a pandemic those who lost their lives. I have faith in that we will repair the damage in our economy with our confidence in our industry and our country, we will be attacking again in 2021 and we will survive these days. Because ‘We are Strong Together’. I sincerely congratulate the shining stars of the award-winning export award.”
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