Plastics Industry Meets at Webinar

  PLASFED President Ömer Karadeniz hosted a webinar titled "Sector Leaders Speaking" on webinar. Presidents from plastic-sector civil society organizations including İKMİB, AKİB, TOBB Packaging Council, EVFED, ASD, BURPAS, EASD, EGEPLASDER, EVSİD, KAYPİDER, KSD, PAGDER, PAGEV, SEPA and ZÜCDER participated fully in this important event.

Karadeniz: "Industrial Electricity Costs Must Be Reduced"

PLASFED President Ömer Karadeniz addressed issues negatively affecting the plastic sector, whose trade volume narrowed during the pandemic period. Noting that the short-time working allowance needs to be extended for at least another 3 months for the sector to weather the pandemic period with minimal damage and maintain competitiveness in foreign markets, Karadeniz also emphasized the need to diversify financing channels to facilitate access to financing for enterprises and to lower industrial electricity prices. Karadeniz stated: "In our country, industrial electricity has been priced above residential electricity rates since the beginning of 2019. This pricing strategy, unseen in developed countries, must absolutely be reversed and the competitive structure of manufacturing industry must be preserved. I extend my thanks to all civil society organization leaders who contribute to our sector through their dedicated work, particularly PAGDER Management Board President Selçuk Gülsün, whose reports on energy prepared in line with the work Istanbul Chamber of Industry (İSO) has conducted on electricity prices—drawing attention and accounting for approximately 50% of Turkey's production—serve as an example." In his remarks, Karadeniz also evaluated the condition of the sector during the Covid-19 process and the normalization period we are in. Pointing out that shortening the supply chain in the post-pandemic period holds many opportunities for Turkey, Karadeniz said: "Through correct strategies developed by cooperation between public authorities and civil society organizations, it is far from impossible for our plastic sector to increase its share in export markets and to become an attractive alternative for foreign direct investment. I believe that when it comes to steps that need to be taken to attract foreign direct investment, which is very important for the development of our country's industrial infrastructure, all our civil society organizations are ready to support our Ministries."

Pelister: "Long-Term Strategy for the Sector Must Be Prepared"

İKMİB Management Board President Adil Pelister addressed not only the effects of the pandemic and current sector problems, but also long-term strategies for the sector. Pelister stated: "I believe that we need to better explain to end consumers the value that the chemical sector has added to our lives and change the negative perception in society that stems from lack of scientific foundation, and that this is the biggest obstacle to the sector's long-term development." AKİB Chemical Substances and Products Exporters Association Management Board President Saadettin Çağan, emphasizing the importance of scale size, said: "Supporting clustering in the sector and enabling enterprises to reach scale size is a necessity both for increasing competitiveness in foreign markets and for making enterprises and therefore the sector more resilient to external shocks." TOBB Packaging Council President Mustafa Tacir noted that a significant paradigm shift is taking place. Tacir drew attention to the fact that subsidizing enterprises producing certain strategic products while considering possible crisis periods has begun to be discussed both in the EU and the USA. Tacir said: "A similar strategy needs to be analyzed for our country as well."

Common Position from Plastic Sector Civil Society Organizations

In this webinar meeting, as a result of remarks made by all civil society organization leaders on their respective agendas, it became apparent that sector civil society organizations need to speak with one voice on common issues. As a priority, it was decided to undertake work on regulating energy prices by bringing industrial electricity below residential electricity rates, increasing industrial land which poses a problem for all industrialists, and ensuring that manufacturing industry benefits maximally from public support. PLASFED Management Board President Ömer Karadeniz thanked all civil society organization leaders for their participation.