Gürsel Usta, the chief executive officer of Ciner Group, mentioned that the company is continuing to invest because after the pandemic there was an increase in demand for different products.
During a live interview with Bloomberg HT, Mr. Usta also said that the said investment was to be completed by the end of next year.
Highlights of the interview“
In the last 5 years, we made approximately 4 billion USD worth of investments. As Ciner Group, we have a spirit that loves investing. Therefore, primarily we gave green light to an investment that will increase soda ash capacity by 600 thousand tonnes just because we saw an increased demand there. The amount of this investment is nearly 100 million USD, thanks to scale economy the investment amount is decreasing. Said investment will be completed by the end of next year. Our current capacity there is 2,7 million tonnes. When this additional capacity comes, our total capacity will be 3,3 million tonnes. This will give us additional 200-250 million USD worth of export opportunity. I am honoured to say that this is a 100 percent value-added export. We already export 85 percent of our total production.
“We have 2 furnaces in Bozüyük for glass packaging, and now we are building the third one. This is also an investment that was already given green light. This new furnace will be operational after the first half of next year. We have all the necessary permits for 2 furnaces of 650 tons in Ankara Kazan. We also applied for incentives, and they are about to arrive. This also means an investment of almost 260 million EUR.
“We are the most eco-friendly company in the soda ash business. We produce based on solution mining. To put it in an easy comparison context, the water amount we use and our waste amount is between one-fifth and one-tenth of what the other best companies consume, whereas our energy consumption is three times less than the others. We are the only firm certified for green products. This certificate is given to companies that are able to produce the most optimum products using the minimum resources, and we have that certificate. Our carbon emission is half of the best companies in Europe.
“Our primary objective is to fill the gap in the market. Turkey produces very qualified glass packaging. The support coming from the currency side is crucial, thanks to that support we have more and more exporting opportunities. Within this framework, when we plan our investment within this framework, we will have additional 150 million EUR worth of export.”