Ceramics producer wages war on imports
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Anatolia News Agency
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Şubat 05, 2009 00:00
SAKARYA - A Turkish ceramics producer has launched its own frit production, a type of ground glass or glaze used in pottery, to diminish the import dependency of the industry.
While Turkey requires 200,000 tons of ceramic frit annually, a major part is met by imports, said Tolga Ballık, managing director of Gizem Seramik Frit & Glazur. Some materials have to be fritted before they can be used because otherwise they are soluble or toxic.
"We launched ceramic frit production in our facility to reduce the share of imports in this area," said Ballık. "We produce frit in high temperature furnaces by mixing boron with certain chemicals. We produce frit for gloss tools, such as gloss saucepans, for both domestic and global firms that operate in white goods and gloss covering areas," he said. "We export 70 percent of our production to 30 countries," said Ballık. "Employing 110 staff, we are growing 30 percent every year on average. We produced 13,500 tons of gloss frit last year, compared to 500 tons in 1993. Our biggest client is Arçelik, the white goods giant."
First independent firm
There is no other independent firm producing ceramic frit in Turkey, said Ballık. "Despite Turkey being the third largest ceramics producer of Europe and fifth largest in the world, it imports tons of ceramic frits from Spain every year. That is why we launched our own ceramic frit production, to stop importing," Ballık said.
"To start, we aim to meet 15 percent of Turkey's ceramic frit needs. As Turkey's first independent ceramic frit producer, we aim to stop imports in this area in five years."
"We started to feel the effects of the global financial crisis in December," Ballık said. "It is a little stagnant every year at this time, but the crisis caused us to feel the stagnation even more this year."
"We launched ceramic frit production in our facility to reduce the share of imports in this area," said Ballık. "We produce frit in high temperature furnaces by mixing boron with certain chemicals. We produce frit for gloss tools, such as gloss saucepans, for both domestic and global firms that operate in white goods and gloss covering areas," he said. "We export 70 percent of our production to 30 countries," said Ballık. "Employing 110 staff, we are growing 30 percent every year on average. We produced 13,500 tons of gloss frit last year, compared to 500 tons in 1993. Our biggest client is Arçelik, the white goods giant."
First independent firm
There is no other independent firm producing ceramic frit in Turkey, said Ballık. "Despite Turkey being the third largest ceramics producer of Europe and fifth largest in the world, it imports tons of ceramic frits from Spain every year. That is why we launched our own ceramic frit production, to stop importing," Ballık said.
"To start, we aim to meet 15 percent of Turkey's ceramic frit needs. As Turkey's first independent ceramic frit producer, we aim to stop imports in this area in five years."
"We started to feel the effects of the global financial crisis in December," Ballık said. "It is a little stagnant every year at this time, but the crisis caused us to feel the stagnation even more this year."