Our rival is Italy

Turkish natural stone exporters, will compete in quality and design rather than competing in price, in the global markets.

The Turkish natural stone exporters, who participated in the “Italian Trade Mission Organization” organized by the coordination of the Ministry of Economy with the collaboration of Aegean Mineral Exporters’ Association and Izmir Italian Chamber of Commerce between 22-26 January 2017, had the opportunity to see the production and marketing methods of Italian natural stone industry.

Mevlüt Kaya, the Chairman of the Aegean Mineral Exporters’ Association, who explained that they visited marble quarries and marble processing machinery manufacturing factories in Italy said: “The representatives of leading companies in İzmir, Denizli, Antalya, Burdur, Sivas and Ankara, who participated in the Italian Trade Mission Organization were able to see the natural stone designs and the additional value created through Re & De activities by the Italian Companies. All of our colleagues were motivated to export more value-added Turkish natural stone in the following period. We will continue to organize such organizations in cooperation with our Ministry of Economy in the framework of the demands of our natural stone exporters.” Kaya stated that after 1980s Turkey has entered the global competition of the world natural stone sector as a strong player. He added that since the Italians could not compete with the Turkish natural stone in price, they focused in the production of processed products with high added-value. Kaya claimed that Turkey should follow the same path in the future.

Hüseyin Arslan: “We will start producing processed products”

Arslanlar Marble’s Manager Hüseyin Arslan said: “When I received the invitation of the Italian Trade Mission Organization, I decided to participate immediately in order to see the high end product processing techniques and production methods of Italian Companies in their place. “The Italian Trade Mission Organization was very productive. We will start trading with a company we had contacted in bilateral business talks in Italy. ”

“We must focus on high-end products”

Arslan said: “We participated in the URGE project named “Development of Design Focused Exports in Processed Natural Stone Sector” organized by Aegean Maden Exporters Association. We know how machinery equipments process the final product. We should concentrate on how to produce high-end products besides the production of cut-to size products. We should sell finished products to the final consumer. The 2-3% of any house is covered with marble and we can increase it to 30 %. Marble can be used as furniture covering, bathroom and kitchen floor covering, stairs and exterior cladding after increasing its durability.

Mustafa Gökçen Uğur; “Strong domestic market, high export rates”

Dursun Marble’s General Manager Mustafa Gökçen Uğur said: “There is a natural stone culture in Italy. Italy, increasing the production of processed products to a higher level, has reached an annual export figure of 7.5 billion dollars. Turkey can reach its foreign trade targets of 2023 by strengthening its internal market and exporting processed goods. Italians know the value of marble. As Turkish companies we must compete in quality rather than price. However, we compete in price. My product is better quality when compared to an Italian product. We have quality. Apart from China and the United States we have to have access to new markets such as Australia, Russia, Poland, South Africa, Romania, Algeria, Japan. There should be Trade Mission Organizations to these countries. Mevlüt Kaya, the Chairman of the Aegean Mineral Exporters Association, has a very important mission in overcoming bureaucratic obstacles with its highly constructive approach.”

Celil Kılınç; “Controlled marble supply”

Ionic Stone General Manager Celil Kılıç said: “Trade Delegation Organizations are very important for the growth of Turkish natural stone trade. Italians make controlled natural stone supply in order to protect the value of their stones. We participated the Italian Trade Mission Organization to improve our knowledge and see how the Italians do natural stone production and marketing. We make beige marble production in Denizli. The Levantine region of Spain is making production of Crema Marfil stone, a material which is equal to our marbles. Our rivals in the world make production with highly developed technologies. Thanks to the Ministry of Economy, we are able to visit factories of other companies in other countries and see the way they make production.”.

Machinery loans from Eximbank

Turkish natural stone exporters also had the opportunity to visit machinery factories that produce high end products during the Trade Mission of Italy. Eximbank will provide financial support if natural stone exporters renew their machinery equipments. Eximbank Aegean Region Director Ferhat Firat said:” Eximbank will provide a 5 year, low interest rate, one year non-refundable loan to natural stone exporters who will invest in new machinery. We are giving credit to our natural stone exporters when they declare the proforma invoices of their new machinery, from European Investment Fund or Eximbank’s equity.”