The 11th Ordinary General Assembly of the Turkish Ceramics Federation, the umbrella organization of the ceramics industry, was held. A new board of directors was elected at the meeting, where the developing structure of the ceramic industry, which creates net foreign currency with a domestic added value rate of 82 percent, came to the fore. Erdem Cenesiz, who served as the chairman of the Turkish Ceramics Federation for three terms, handed over the task to the Chairman of the Board of Yurtbay Seramik, Ilter Yurtbay.
The Turkish ceramics industry, which is an important player in the world ceramic industry; realizes a large part of our country’s exports with its production with domestic resources. At the 11th Ordinary General Assembly of the Turkish Ceramics Federation held at Shangri-La Bosphorus Istanbul Hotel on July 6, the size of the ceramics industry was discussed in numbers, and the projects and activities carried out in the past period were shared. At the meeting where the new board of directors was determined unanimously, Yurtbay Seramik Chairman of the Board Ilter Yurtbay took over the chairmanship from Erdem Cenesiz.
New Era at TSF
Erdem Cenesiz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ece Holding, who was elected as the President of the Turkish Ceramics Federation at the 8th Ordinary General Assembly held on June 6, 6 years ago, continued his duty for 3 terms. At the general assembly where Erdem Cenesiz was not a candidate again, the new Board of Directors, which will continue with Ilter Yurtbay, who took over the flag of the new era between 2023 and 2025, was also announced. Accordingly, in the General Assembly, Altug Akbas, Hasan Pehlivan, Enver Sever, Goksen Yediguller, Fatih Kıvanc, A. Hakan Tanıs, Ali Gural, Nihat Ozyurt, Ulker Yazici, Hakan Canakci, Mustafa Ozgen Ozkan, Nuri Bulent Onur, Kursad Noyan Ozkaya, Serkan Haskol, Olgun Cakmak, Rifat Noyan, Deniz Cenk Kaya, Kemal Yildirim, Kemal Celik, Serdar Donmez, Kazim Demir and Taner Kavas are the main members; Altug Akbas, Hasan Pehlivan, Goksen Yediguller, Hakan Canakci, Enver Sever and Nihat Ozyurt were also elected as Vice Presidents.
835 activities were carried out in 23 countries and 47 cities in six years
Erdem Cenesiz, President of the Turkish Ceramics Federation, shared the details of the activities they carried out between 2017 and 2023 at the meeting. In his speech, Cenesiz said: “During my three terms as president; focusing on solving the problems of our sector together with our board of directors, we set out by determining our needs, strengths and future targets in order to increase exports. In this way, we have carried out guiding and supportive works for our sector in order to realize common goals and to observe common interests with the suggestions, contributions and participation of our valued members. During my term as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Ceramics Federation, I actively worked with the Members of the Board of Directors and my colleagues at the General Secretariat; we have increased communication with public institutions, we have taken a more active role in ministries as the Federation, we have carried out domestic added value report and Export Contribution Index studies to reveal the importance of our sector. We brought together the companies in our industry by organizing 12 ceramic industry meetings in total. We managed intense diplomatic traffic. We frequently talked about the problems of our industry and our solution proposals in the press, and expressed our demands.
To summarize in numbers, in 6 years; we had a very active and exemplary period filled with 835 activities covering 23 countries and 47 cities in 642 days in total. We made 288 public visits. We prepared 10 sector reports and 19 printed publications for the sector. We participated in 17 fairs, 64 international conferences and organizations. We held 12 workshops and sector meetings. By participating in 46 live broadcasts, we shared our industry, its needs and its development with large audiences. Thinking that it is necessary to hand over the flag when the time comes in sectoral organizations, I did not aspire to the presidency despite the proposal of many valuable representatives of our sector to continue in this general assembly. I believe that my dear friend Ilter, who took over the presidency, will do good works with enthusiasm and determination. I also congratulate and express my gratitude to the Ceramics Industry, which increased its export figure from 945 million dollars to 2 billion dollars during my presidency.”
“We will continue our success in exports with UNICERA”
Mentioning the point the industry has reached in exports, Cenesiz said, “The Turkish ceramics industry is an important player in the world. Turkey is advancing by increasing its speed towards becoming a production base in the ceramics industry. The contribution of the ceramics industry to the Turkish economy is very important as it is one of the industries that uses domestic resources the most and has the least dependence on imported products. Our industry exports about 40% of the production. The annual export figure is at the level of 2 billion dollars. The ceramic industry, which makes a positive contribution to Turkey's current account balance with its net foreign currency inflow due to its domestic resources, has a domestic added value record in the industry with a rate of 82%. Of every $100 we export, $82 stays in the country. Therefore, the 2 billion dollar export of the sector contributes more than the 10 billion dollar export of some sectors. Our goal is to have Turkish ceramics permanently in the reshaped world market and supply chain. we bring together buyers from all over the world in Istanbul, thanks to the international fair organized by UNICERA Fuarcılık A.Ş., which we established as TSF. UNICERA was the 2nd largest Fair in Europe in its sector. The goal is to catch the first place in 10 years. Despite all the negative effects in recent years, we continued to grow and reach our targets. We will continue to grow stronger in the countries we export to, especially in the American market, and to increase our net foreign exchange inflow with our high domestic added value rate.”
“The vision of TSF should be to establish a university”
Erdem Cenesiz also mentioned that TSF's vision should be to establish a university: “The place of R&D, innovation and technology in the development of the ceramic industry and its sub-branches, in which Turkey is the leader in the EU and among the top 5 in the world, is obvious. The biggest demand we have come across in the workshops we have held for years is the creation of new human resources that will bring technical capability to the sector. Turkish Ceramics Federation should dream of establishing a university with Ceramic Technologies, Materials Science, Sales, Marketing and Logistics departments in the next 5 years.”
Erdem Çenesiz congratulated Ilter Yurtbay, who took over the presidency, and wished him success.
