“We will do our best to increase lubricant exports”

Having won the Presidency elections for İKMİB, Adil Pelister told us what he will do in his term of presidency, and what he offers to the sector. Pelister aims to eliminate all difficulties in the chemical industry with his projects, and closely follows the problems of the lubricants sector.

What are your main goals during your term of presidency at İKMİB? Can you please tell us about the projects you want to make a difference?

As you know, I announced candidacy for president of İKMİB, Istanbul Chemicals and Chemical Products Exporters’ Association, on February 23rd as a person who grew up at the heart of chemistry. After an effective election campaign, I was elected as the President of İKMİB. We won the elections with our motto “We are Strong Together” and with our management team that consists of the leading representatives of our industry. In the new term; we will address all the problems of our industry, find permanent solutions to eliminate all difficulties that our exporters face, and carry our association to the future with innovative projects. We are launching a new era that will add value to the chemicals industry as a single body with all our sub-sectors. For this, we have developed five golden projects.

1. Our project is ready to decrease the lower limit for green passport to 100 thousand USD

• Our exporting SMEs should reach new markets faster and contribute more to our country’s exports.
• We will initiate a special project for decreasing the lower limit for green passport to 100 thousand USD to boost our SME’s operations abroad.
• In addition, we will establish a special “Visa Office” within İKMİB to facilitate the visa procedures for our exporters.

2. We will be the star of e-commerce with the Digital Export Platform

• We will launch a campaign of digitalization to carry our developing industry and export success to the future.
• We will establish a “Digital Export Platform” to make e-commerce easier to learn and to adapt quickly to today’s changing business conditions.
• With this platform, we will ensure that our exporters are highly effective on e-commerce platforms.
• We will make our members an effective part of new commerce trends with our e-commerce training programs and financial support for digitalization.
• We will guide the future of our business by ensuring the e-commerce transformation of all our sectors.

3. We will facilitate our exporters’ access to finance

• We will help the small-scale exporters and all SMEs to use their capital only as operating capital.
• We will do our best to create Small-Scale Organized Export Zones. In this way, we will make our exporters, even those with the lowest capital, export their products directly.
• As the voice of the sector, we will prepare an action plan to increase the terms from 18 months to 36 months to help our exporters access direct financing.
• To facilitate entrance to new markets, we will work to shorten the insurance and limit demand reply terms of Eximbank.
• We will review the TAREKS system and provide an exemption for our exporters.

4. The chemical sector will be the forerunner of the localization initiative

• With our distinctive projects, wwWe will take the chemical sector to the 2^nd place, which currently ranks 3rd in exports.
• We will develop a special action plan for our five main sub-sectors, which are given priority under the “Industrial and Export Localization Initiative”.
• We will implement our support projects with the ‘Localization Advisory Board’, which we established in five major sub-sectors: petrochemicals, polymers, vaccines, nano-technological products and amino compounds.
• We will complete our works about investment figures, and the list of raw materials and intermediate goods that are suitable for localization.
• We will meet with the officials of the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology to discuss our projects in this regard right after the elections.

5. On the basis of a fair representation of the sector, we will make the best of Turkey Promotion Group funds and Turkey Trade Centers

• We will establish “Sectoral Advisory Committees” in order to benefit from branding and brand supports, primarily Turquality.
• We will get the highest contribution from Turkey Promotion Groups with our projects of strategic importance.
• We will organize a special road show in scope of Turkey Promotion Group, and launch a global-scale project to introduce the products from the target sectors to the managers of 50 largest retail chain stores.
• We will work with global chain stores to establish global purchasing offices in Turkey.
• We will increase the number of chemical exporters in Turkey Trade Centers, which was established under TIM all around the world.
• In addition to government subsidies, we will establish a “Chemical Sub-Cluster”. In this way, we will benefit from Turkey Trade Centers, which are exhibition areas open for the entire year.

Let’s talk a little bit more about taking the chemical sector to a higher rank in Turkey’s exports. Do you believe that the sector can grow that much?

Turkish chemical sector has the potential to take a significant share in the global economy with its young and dynamic structure. We have great competitive power thanks to our geographical location that brings us logistic advantages, and our ability to make high quality and flexible production. Trade volume of the world chemical industry is about 4 trillion dollars. Considering Turkey’s potential, we see it can further increase its share in the global chemical industry. Our primary goal is to carry our sector permanently to the second place in exports. There is nothing to prevent us from reaching this goal.

What is the secret of success in exports? Do you have any recommendations for exporting companies?

First of all, we need to start by deciding where to sell our products or services, and at that point analysis of your company and competitors and market analysis have vital importance! Needs of world markets and consumers are constantly changing. To achieve success in exports, you should discover these needs and offer innovative products and services as soon as possible. It is also important to create new trends and ensure continuity. My biggest recommendation to companies is to focus on R&D and innovation.

Turkey ranks 32^nd in the global lubricants market with an export volume of 1.1 billion dollars. What are your plans to take Turkey to a higher level in lubricant exports?

In recent years, Turkey has become a center for lubricant production as international companies sign contract manufacturing agreements in Turkey. With high added value, lubricants continue to play a key role in the export of our country.

Manufacturers are required to make a deposit payment to the tax office as much as the Special Consumption Tax (SCT), as an inward processing certificate in import cannot be obtained for the base oil used in the production of lubricants, and it creates a serious cost. For lubricant production, base oil cannot be bought from TÜPRAŞ as export registered and this creates another problem for the sector. Besides, the need to pay the SCT in advance and then wait for SCT refund is another financial burden. While there is no TSE obligation for the lubricants imported into Turkey, but lubricant manufacturers are obliged to obtain TSE certificates for their products. This is the main reason of unfair competition in the sector. In addition, the contribution paid to EMRA over the annual turnover is reflected as another cost to lubricant manufacturers.

Lubricant exports will increase when these problems are solved promptly, and therefore we will submit our proposals to relevant institutions in this regard.

What do you think about the Lubricant World Magazine, which supports Turkish lubricant companies in their promotion and marketing activities abroad?

The Lubricant World Magazine, which is the only magazine of the Turkish lubricants industry, has an important place in promoting our lubricant firms both at home and abroad. We see the positive implications in our sector as it is published both in Turkish and English, and distributed in many countries. At the same, the magazine’s presence in the internet and its online activities serves the international promotion of the lubricant industry.