IKMIB Holds Rubber Industry Workshop

A two-day "Rubber Sector Workshop" held in Antalya under the auspices of İKMİB assessed opportunities and threats facing the sector. The workshop, moderated by Sociologist and Strategist Uğur Ersoy, discussed the future of the industry. SWOT analyses for sector development were conducted with working groups. On the first day of the workshop, internal management and financing models of companies were addressed, while on the second day global policies and public legislation were discussed. National and global developments in the sector were reviewed, and a future vision strategy was established. The "Rubber Sector Workshop" bringing together sector representatives was attended by 65 participants, including İKMİB Board Chairman Adil Pelister, İKMİB Board Vice Chairman Özcan Doğu Kaya and İKMİB representatives, as well as exporting companies operating in the rubber sector, relevant ministry officials and representatives, academics from various universities, and participants from sectoral non-governmental organisations.

İKMİB Board Chairman Adil Pelister stated: "Industrialisation in the rubber sector that began in our country in the 1950s has now placed us among the leading countries in Europe and the world. I believe that our rubber sector will gain great importance in our efforts to produce our own automobile and aircraft.

The biggest problem in the sector is dependence on imports in terms of raw materials, a challenge we also face in other chemical sub-sectors. This is why we need to reiterate what we have always said: we need investments in the petrochemical industry in our country. With an increase in these investments, our chemical sector's dependence on imports in many areas will decrease and the ratio of exports to imports will rise." Evaluating the rubber sector, Pelister stated: "Globally, as of 2018, the rubber sector reached a production volume of 29 million tonnes, comprising approximately 14 million tonnes of natural rubber and 15 million tonnes of synthetic rubber. The top five importing countries are the US, Germany, China, Mexico and France, while the top five exporting countries are Germany, China, the US, Malaysia and Thailand. In our country, as of 2018, USD 1.4 billion of total chemical sector exports and USD 1.4 billion of total automotive sector exports consisted of rubber products. In this context, our rubber sector exports totalled USD 2.8 billion in 2018. In 2019, based on the January-September period, USD 930 million of the chemical sector's total exports and USD 1.15 billion of the automotive sector's total exports consist of rubber products. Based on the January-September 2019 period, Germany ranks first among the top three countries to which we export the most rubber, with USD 220 million in exports. The US ranks second with USD 80 million in exports, and Poland ranks third with USD 50 million in exports. We have approximately 650 industrial establishments, the vast majority of which are located in Istanbul, Kocaeli, Bursa and Izmir. We continue our efforts to increase the kilogram value of the rubber sector, which currently stands at USD 4.76. In our workshop, we will address the threats and opportunities in our sector. Furthermore, we will address how to determine target countries and what work we will conduct regarding target countries, national participation, trade missions, fairs or congresses, etc. I hope our workshop will be beneficial for all our participants."