The Turkish plastics sector broke an export record in 2025 despite uncertainties; in 2026, the goal is to exceed the 10 billion dollar mark and achieve full integration into the Industry 4.0 revolution.
Şener GENÇER
Aegean Plastics Industrialists Association (EGEPLASDER)
Chairman of the Board
The 102 years of Republic experience has taught us that living on these lands is not easy at all. Despite being a country with very limited underground resources – especially in the last 40 years – we have acquired a significant industrial infrastructure. Well… Are we where we should be? Undoubtedly no…
The two most important questions that 65 years of life experience have taught me are, “Do you consider yourself successful?” and “Successful according to whom?” I have always thought, “No matter how perfectly we do a job, there are always people in the world who do it better than us…” As much as we have the right to be proud of what we have done, lamenting what we couldn't do must be our conscientious responsibility… Not long ago, 40-50 years ago, countries that were miles behind Turkey in terms of economic size and development level, where are they today, and where are we… As we leave 2025 Turkey behind with these interrogations, we are trying to plan what kind of year 2026 will be.
We left a difficult year behind
To be honest, in my industrialist life of nearly 40 years, full of ups and downs, I do not recall a year as dominated by uncertainties as 2025. Turkish industrialists, accustomed to crises, would quickly recover from their setbacks thanks to their production capabilities, and record their experiences.
Today, however, we are striving to navigate through a twilight where it is unclear where it will end or when recovery will begin, to keep our businesses afloat, and to protect the jobs of our employees, whom we see as our children.
Although we feel the positive effects of the macroeconomic policies implemented over the past year, as long as we cannot cope with high inflation, which has been our country's bane for over half a century, the impact of the measures taken is unfortunately limited.
Company executives like us, focused on exports, are increasingly struggling against the disproportionate stability in exchange rates, in contrast to the rising basic input and employment costs that are well above even official inflation.
Industrialists are eating into their capital
To survive under tough competitive conditions, they have to overlook the erosion of their working capital; in popular parlance, they have to "eat into their capital." The structural problems inherent in the Turkish economy present variables beyond our control as serious risk factors.
Recalling that inflation is projected to fall to single digits by the end of 2027, at best, it is possible to say that we will experience a period where we will have to grit our teeth a bit more. At this point, specifically for our plastics sector, we must state that we have managed to keep our heads above water despite all the adversities.
While our "Chemicals and Products" sector became the second-highest exporting sector in 2024 with 30.7 billion dollars, our "Plastics and Products" sector, which is part of the chemical sector, closed 2024 with exports at 9 billion dollars, an increase of 574 million dollars compared to the previous year.
Our export target is 10 billion dollars
It will be satisfying for all of us if our Plastics sector, which achieved an export success of 7.1 billion dollars in the first nine months of this year, completes 2025 with an export level between 9-10 billion dollars. For 2026, I would like to record it as a statement of intent that we must exceed the 10 billion dollar mark, in parallel with possible improvements in the economy.
I wholeheartedly congratulate my colleagues who achieved this export success in 2025, despite all adverse conditions, where the increase in exchange rates did not reach official inflation, and operating costs rose well above official inflation…
Integration into the Industry 4.0 revolution
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, on the other hand, will shape the industry of the next decade. It is bringing a brand new era to all of us, where the internet connects with everything around us, machine-to-machine communication begins, and systems aspiring to manage all production processes independently emerge. Turkish industry and its production structure must absolutely keep pace with this new revolution and integrate much faster.
This content has been translated using artificial intelligence technology.