The Chemical Industry Gathered at the 8th Chemical Industry Development Council

Chemical Sector Platform held its 8th Chemical Industry Development Forum in Ankara on 15-16 December, where major issues facing the sector were discussed and solutions were sought. The chemical sector, which holds strategic importance in Turkey's economy and has high value-added production potential, focused on formulas to reduce the country's trade deficit, which has reached USD 40 billion. The sector, targeting USD 50 billion in exports for 2023, identified solutions in strengthening industry-public-university cooperation, state incentives for high value-added and technology-intensive production, accelerating sectoral clustering, and improving quality in vocational training by creating new vocational training methods aligned with industry needs. At the conclusion of the Forum, Chemical Sector Platform members delivered a message of unity for Turkey's stability while condemning terrorism. Sessions held at the 8th Chemical Industry Development Forum covered "International dimensions and foreign trade effects in the chemical sector", "Investment, production and clustering models in the chemical sector", "2023 Workforce planning—Education, professional competence and certification in the chemical sector", and "Assessment of the 2017 investment-based incentive system". Murat Akyüz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Istanbul Chemicals and Chemical Products Exporters Association (İKMİB), provided the following remarks in his address on chemical sector exports: "We forecast that Turkey's chemical sector, which ranks third in exports after automotive and ready-made garments-textiles, will close 2016 with approximately USD 15 billion in exports. The negative impact of oil prices on our exports has begun to diminish, and we hope this trend continues. To reach our 2023 target of USD 50 billion in exports, we need to exceed these figures. When we look at the export prices per kilogram on a dollar basis in our chemical exports, we see paint at USD 1.42; plastic products at USD 2.2; cosmetics at USD 3.74; rubber at USD 4.8; and pharmaceuticals at USD 15.3. Our goal is to produce value-added above Turkey's average. While the chemical sector shows variations across subsectors, overall it appears to be a sector dependent on imports at a high rate of approximately 80 percent. Through R&D investments and production of high value-added products, we can eliminate this disadvantage and bring our exports to the targets we have set."