Chemical Sector's Top Exporters Announced

Export stars of 2020 have been announced in the chemicals sector, which contributes significantly to the country's economy and is Turkey's second-largest exporting sector.

The İKMİB Export Stars Awards Ceremony, organized annually by the Istanbul Chemical Substances and Products Exporters Association, was held in hybrid format on 18 June 2021. At the 2020 İKMİB Export Stars Awards Ceremony, 175 awards were presented across 35 categories.

The chemicals sector, whose vital importance was once again highlighted during the pandemic, supplies inputs to 27 sectors and creates significant added value for the country's economy.

In 2020, while the world economy and global trade faced a challenging period under the shadow of the pandemic, the Turkish chemicals sector, with USD 18.3 billion in exports, became Turkey's second-largest exporting sector. Global chemicals sector exports contracted by 12 percent due to pandemic effects in 2020, while Turkish chemicals sector exports contracted by approximately 11 percent.

The sector maintained its 0.6 percent share in global exports. İKMİB, which represents over 7,000 active exporting companies from many different subsectors ranging from plastics to cosmetics, pharmaceuticals to rubber, and medical devices to paints and coatings, accounted for more than 59 percent of Turkey's total chemicals exports.

The 2020 İKMİB Export Stars Awards Ceremony, the sixth edition held to honor and encourage member companies for their successful exports, was held in hybrid format on 18 June 2021.

The chemicals sector is a key indicator of a country's development

Speaking at the 2020 İKMİB Export Stars Awards Ceremony, Deputy Minister of Trade Rıza Tuna Turagay recalled that Turkey grew by 7 percent in the first quarter this year, saying, "We will achieve much higher growth figures in the second quarter and will close the year with positive growth.

Many sectors experienced difficulties, we experienced the pandemic, and hopefully it will be behind us. We are trying to complete vaccinations as quickly as possible. Hopefully, with the reopening of tourism, we will also experience significant relief in current account transactions," he said.

Noting that the chemicals sector is one of the key indicators of a country's development, Turagay stated: "In May, our chemicals sector was our export champion. The chemicals sector has potential to increase its share in Turkey's total trade even further.

Today we are still 60-70 percent dependent on imports in chemicals. We need to reduce this dependence. To do this, we need to work hard. We need to make major investments. Our government has these investments on its agenda. When we talk about the chemicals sector, it accounts for 25 percent of world trade. Our share is around 12.5 percent.

We need to increase this share. We are all on the same path and we have focused on one goal. That is to increase our exports and properly implement our export-led growth strategy. We achieved 7 percent growth in the first quarter, with 1.1 points of this contribution coming from exports.

We need to increase this further. Hopefully this year we will exceed USD 200 billion and raise that threshold, but we need to produce more value-added exports and work harder. Last year the world economy contracted by 3.3 percent but this year it will grow by 6 percent. World trade contracted by 5.8 percent but this year it will grow by 8 percent. There is incredible liquidity in the market. Our Turkey stands at the forefront of the most important countries that can attract this liquidity with its potential."

Our target is USD 200 billion

Turkish Exporters Council (TİM) Chairman İsmail Gülle, stating that they have made a very successful entry into 2021, the year of exports, leaving 2020 behind due to the pandemic process, said, "Contrary to many negative expectations, our country grew by 1.8 percent in 2020 and 7 percent in the first quarter of 2021. Our exports are making very valuable contributions to this growth.

For two quarters we have had exports exceeding USD 50 billion and the sixth month figures point to an amount above USD 50 billion in the third quarter. For three quarters in a row we will have achieved exports of USD 50 billion. Our target is USD 200 billion. We will achieve USD 200 billion and above in the coming months.

In May, the sector with the highest exports was our Chemicals sector with USD 2.131 billion in exports. The chemicals sector has very significant intensity in world trade. It is important for us and does good things for our country. I congratulate all exporters in our sector for this successful performance," he said.

We think we will exceed USD 21 billion this year

İKMİB Chairman Adil Pelister said that in 2020, during a period when the global supply chain and logistics system nearly collapsed due to the pandemic, they managed to finish the year in second place with USD 18.3 billion in sectoral exports despite the difficulties experienced.

Pelister noted that compared to all major global setbacks, the national chemicals sector recorded only an 11 percent decline last year, saying, "This year, from 2021 onwards, thank God, we have begun to recover and rise again by compensating for this decline.

Accordingly, in May, within total export figures, our chemicals sector rose to first place as the largest exporting sector. Compared to the same month last year, we achieved exports of USD 2.130 billion by increasing our chemicals sector exports by 80 percent.

Similarly, compared to the first five months of last year, in the same period of 2021 we recorded a 35 percent increase in exports, bringing our chemicals sector exports to USD 9.6 billion.

We think we will finish this year well above USD 21 billion. Accordingly, we continue to produce and export with all our strength. I would like to thank once again our valuable exporters who give us this justified pride," he said.

The chemicals sector is the key to economic development

Noting that when they look at the world's most economically developed countries, they see the chemicals sector at the highest levels, Pelister said, "Therefore, the chemicals sector is also the key to economic development.

Because the chemicals sector is the supplier to exactly 27 sectors directly or indirectly. Indeed, in this direction, we rightly express the necessity of giving special importance to our chemicals sector. In order to realize our 2030 vision, I would like to propose the establishment of a National Chemistry Agency that brings together our state, our sector and our scientific world.

We believe that this agency will also contribute to scientific research work particularly for Space Technologies. The key to representation in the space race is again found in our chemicals sector. We must be able to produce and export high-technology and high value-added products. As İKMİB, we are implementing our Chemistry Technology Center project entirely for this purpose.

This important science and economy center, which will contain accredited reference laboratories, a digital library, a research and development center and an 'incubation center' that will enable new innovations to be introduced into economic life, will hopefully be inaugurated together by all of us next year," he concluded.