Import of Products Containing Organic Pigments

Import of Products Containing Organic Pigments to Turkey First of all, I should underline that the given annual import values and their changes have been obtained and evaluated through the Foreign Trade Statistics page of TurkStat. According to Turkish Customs statistics, the value of products containing organic pigments imported into Turkey has decreased from USD 44 million to less than USD 30 million within the last ten years. Organic pigment-containing products are recorded under the subgroup of custom 12 of HS code of 320417. These products consist mainly of synthetic dyes, masterbatches, OEM paints/pastes, and pigment pastes. However, we understood that following our communications with many companies, many organic pigments belonging to subgroup 11 were given under subgroup 12. It is understood that the opposite is also true in the group of organic pigments. Figure 1 shows annual imports value in USD and Figure 2 shows the possible distribution of products for 2021. While the share of European countries decreased from 90% to 81% in 10 years, the percentage of Asian countries increased from 9% to only 16%. The increase in organic pigments imported from Asian countries is much higher. There are imports of products containing organic pigments from 2 free zones in Turkey, and the products brought to the country from these free zones are recorded within subgroup 12 of HS code 3201417. The value of products from free zones has decreased from USD 13 million in 2011 to USD 5.5 million today. The most significant part of the decline observed in the free zones was recorded in Çorlu European Free Zone. Organic pigment-containing products importation from Çorlu European Free Zone was USD 13 million, but it fell below USD 5.5 million. Another decline occurred in the Atatürk Airport Free Zone. The importation from this region has decreased from USD 500 thousand to less than USD 40 thousand. There is not enough information about the type of product coming from here. The largest source is Germany, and the value of products containing organic pigments from Germany to Turkey has decreased from USD 10 million to less than USD 5 million in 10 years. The type of products coming from Germany consists of a wide range of products, from pigment pastes, OEM paints, masterbatch products, etc. The second largest supplier of products containing organic pigments was Belgium, with USD 3.4 million in 2012. In 2021, the value of the products from Belgium decreased to less than USD 100 thousand. Similarly, the export of the Netherlands, which used to be at the level of USD 2.8 million, has decreased to USD 220 k. The main products supplied by these two countries are mainly machine color pastes but also contain OEM paints and many other products. France and Italy are two European countries that maintain their export levels of over USD 1 million even though their exports show some fluctuations during the last ten years. The products coming from these countries consist of many different dyes and pastes, especially masterbatch and ink. Portugal is another European country with over USD 1 million in exporting to Turkey. The products coming from Portugal are mainly textile dyes. Romania also has large exportation to Turkey. The products imported from Romania are masterbatch, and we found that the most significant portion of this importation is recorded under subgroup 11 of HS Code 320417. Austria is another masterbatch supplier, and similarly, importation is recorded in subgroup 11 and partially in 12. Sweden, Norway, and Finland are 3 Nordic countries for pigment-containing product suppliers. It's estimated that the products imported from these countries are internal businesses of 2 international companies. Although the export from Sweden shows fluctuations and declines over the last ten years, it has risen to over USD 4 million. Similarly, it was seen that products imported from Norway and Finland increased to over USD 1 million in 2021 from each Norway and Finland. It is seen that the share of the Far East in the imports of products containing organic pigment is limited compared to the pigment import figures. In 10 years, exports from China increased from USD 1 million to only USD 2 million. Unlike China, Indian exports of products containing organic pigments have increased from USD 500 thousand to USD 1.5 million. It is estimated that imports from 2 countries were predominantly pigments and were mistakenly recorded in subgroup 12 instead of group 11. As a result, while the pigment production of Asian countries, and therefore Turkey's organic pigment imports from these countries, increased significantly, the supply of pigment-containing products from these countries remained limited. The main reason is that the products containing pigments consist of more specific products and include wide varieties. On the other hand, it is understood that a significant part of the products containing pigment originating from Europe has started to be produced in the country. This result is derived from the fact that the import quantities of these products are decreasing while the imports of organic pigments are increasing.     Associate Professor Dr. Gürses Öner Regional Sales Manager Sudarshan Chemical Industries Ltd.