Kenan Saraç, President of TORİD Turkey Forest Products Exporters, Importers and Manufacturers Association

“BECOMING A STRATEGIC SECTOR”

“At the beginning of 2013, our country’s Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Mr.Veysel Eroğlu has decribed our industry as the Strategic Sector. So it was declared that in the coming years, our industry will be an important sector in the development of our country, exports, and employment. In order to achieve this goal, a Strategy Action Plan should be created. It’s important to consider every detailed problem of the assets produced from the forest from quality to the sale as well as from factory production process to the final product reaching the consumer.

One the side, our forest products industry is the pride of our country, but on the other side it’s struggling and in need of special attention. While our fiber and chip board industry becoming more successful in Europe, our timber-based industries are struggling with structural problems.

In 2013, the fluctuations and high change in exchange rates have led to a serious decline in the imports of timber. Due to the cuts in value added taxes, same decline did not appear on the imports of timber.

Briefly here are are the problems in the sector, which hopefully will be solved in 2014;

A regular supply of raw materials and price stability,

lag of production and traditional timber business,

the inability to use technology,

less variety of the final product,

innovation,

failure to increase the demand for wood,

the lack of standardization in the product and the marketing of the product,

lack of investment,

lack of capital,

wooden building regulations.

We are expecting the Forestry General Directorate to make significant changes and solve problems of the failure of price stability in the supply of raw materials as well as the failure of sustainable development of trade and industry in 2014.”