ANKARA: Turkey’s cement industry aims to increase exports by 10 percent year-on-year to 13 million tons in 2017, Ali Özinönü, the chairman of the Council of Cement and Soil Products Sector at the Turkish Exporters Assembly, stated on May 16. “We exported 11.5 million tons of cement, worth $600 million, last year. There is a decrease compared to 2008, when the country exported 20.5 million tons of cement. However, we achieved an increase [in cement exports] by 7 percent in 2016 [compared to 2015],” Özinönü said in his speech at the INTERCEM International Cement Conference.
Turkey’s annual cement production capacity is around 110 million tons and the country consumes 65 million tons, he added. Exports are mostly destined for African countries including the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Angola, Özinönü said. He underlined that new trade opportunities were being discussed at the INTERCEM International Cement Conference in Istanbul, which started on May 15 and ends on May 17, hosting 300 sector representatives from over 40 countries.
