PACKAGING INDUSTRY IN TURKEY

PRODUCTION

Packaging industry in Turkey is a rapidly developing sector. Rapid urbanization, population growth, increase in living standards, increase in participation of women in business, changes in consumption habits, increase in retail shopping tendency with increase of shopping centers, increase in demand for consumption products and increase in exports are main factors of rapid development of industry.

Thera are about 3,000 companies producing packaging materials in Turkey. The majority of these firms are medium and small scale firms. The firms in the packaging sector are active in İstanbul, İzmir, Bursa, Ankara, Konya, Kocaeli, Gaziantep, Adana, Kayseri and Manisa.

Companies in the sector have been operating in five main groups; plastic, paper-cardboard, metal, glass and wooden packaging.

Plastic packaging industry in Turkey is over 1.5 million tons. Turkish PE and PP woven bags and nets sector has significant production and export capacity.

Paper, cardboard and corrugated cardboard products have become one of the important sectors of the packaging industry and most of the production in the packaging industry belongs to this sector

Turkey has an advanced glass industry. In the glass industry, Turkey Sise ve Cam Fab. Inc. the internal market is dominant and Anadolu Cam exports glass packaging as well as packaging production technologies. Glass packaging is used especially in the food industry, where recycling is of great importance.

Wood packaging; It is made up of wooden boxes, cases and pallets which are mostly used for the packaging of agricultural products (fresh fruits, vegetables, etc.). ISO 9001 and new ISPM 15 standards are widely available.

In addition, the Turkish packaging sector has achieved world standards. There is a significant increase in the number of companies that have ISO 9000, ISO 14001 and ISO 22000. Research and development in the sector and packaging designs made in this context have gained great importance in order to compete worldwide.

Turkish packaging manufacturers closely follow developments related to national and international environmental regulations and comply with these regulations. The goals with the "Packaging Waste Control Regulation" in force are,

1. The production of packages with environmental criteria, conditions and specifications,

2. Prevention of the formation of packaging wastes, reduction of the amount of non-avoidable packaging wastes to be disposed of by reuse, recycling and recovery,

3. Preventing the harmful contact of packaging wastes, directly or indirectly to the environment.

4. Establishing technical and administrative standards for the collection, transport and separation of packaging wastes in a specific management system at their source.

EXPORT

Exports of Turkish packaging industry products were $ 3.74 billion in 2015. In addition, large quantities of packaging are exported indirectly as packaging for export products. Packaging industry exports have increased by an annual average of 10% in the last five years. Due to the contraction in the market due to the global crisis, exports of packaging products decreased by 15% in 2009. And increased by approximately 50% between 2010 and 2015, from $ 2.47 billion to $ 3.74 billion.

In 2015, plastic packaging products take first place with a share of 68% in packaging industry exports. Exports of plastic packaging decreased by 6.5 percent compared to the previous year and reached $ 2.556 million in 2015. Major plastic packaging products exported have been; PP sheets and films; PE sacks and bags; PE or PP ribbon woven sacks and bags. Other plastic packaging products exported are; caps, containers, bottles, and similar articles.

The other important packaging group exported is paper and cardboard packaging products with 21% export share. In 2015, exports of paper and cardboard packaging have been $ 790 million. The main products exported are paper and cardboard, corrugated cardboard, boxes, crates and other packaging containers.

The other important packaging group is metal packaging with a 9% export share in the total packaging sector. The main products exported are; aluminum tubs, other metal drums, canned food containers (including hard or foldable containers). In 2015 the total exports of metal packaging products have been $ 331 million.

Glass and wooden packaging products are other important export products. These products are; bottles, water bottles, jars, light bulbs, wooden boxes and pallets. Glass packaging exports in 2015 amounted to about 32 million dollars, and wooden packaging exports amounted to 31 million dollars.

Turkish packaging industry products are exported to more than 200 countries, mainly the EU countries, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Germany, England, Iraq, France, Iran, Italy, Israel, Netherlands, Egypt and Azerbaijan are the main export countries in 2015 when we look at the countries. Germany's share in the exports of packaging industry in 2011 was 8%, Britain's share 7%, Iraq's share 7%, France's share 4.5% and Iran's share 4%.

IMPORTS

Turkey's imports of packaging materials decreased by 12% in 2015 compared to 2014, which was approximately $ 3.2 billion. The most important import items are plastic packaging, which accounts for 55% of packaging imports, and paper, cardboard and corrugated packaging accounts for 35% of packaging imports.

Imports of packaging materials in Turkey are mainly from Germany, China, Italy, USA, South Korea, France, England, Poland, Finland, Spain and Belgium. Germany's share of imports of packaging materials was 19%, China 13%, Italy 9%, and South Korea 5%.

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