Turkey sets up research and development center to promote the development of plastics manufacturing

On October 3, the Turkish Plastics Association officially announced the project, which will work with the National Ministry of Science, Technology and Technology and is expected to be completed within four years. The Istanbul-based association said the new R&D center, known as the Pagev Plastics Centre of Excellence, will encourage scientific research and commercialization research that will accelerate the growth of the plastics industry.

Turkey sets up research and development center to promote the development of plastics manufacturing

The added value of Turkish plastic products exports is lower than the world average. Although in the European market, Turkey's plastics manufacturing industry ranks second only to Germany, the added value of the products is lower than other countries. The added value of Turkish plastic products exports is US$2.8 per kilogram, which is much lower than the average of US$5.3 per kilogram in the top ten exporting countries. Yavuz Eroglu, president of the Turkish Plastics Association, said the added value of the industry's products needs to be raised to more than $4 per kilogram.

Faruk Ozlu, Minister of Industrial Technology of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said in a statement that the new R&D center will work with universities and societies to conduct extrusion research and development, product development and design for the industry. The total area will be 37,000 square feet and provide qualification, laboratory, testing and consulting services.

Ozlu has repeatedly stressed the concern about the decline in the value added of Turkish manufacturing. He said: "Some small companies can't use their existing knowledge and technology level to carry out projects in the R&D center, which makes high-quality and high value-added plastics production possible."

The Turkish Plastics Association’s statement also stated that the center will also inspect imported plastics before they enter the customs, aiming to bring non-standard quality products to the market.

Eroglu said that Turkey's plastics industry is the sixth largest in the world, with a capacity of 8.6 million tons in 2015, an increase of 3.2% over 2014, of which 7.6 million tons are used domestically.