The 115th meeting of INTERCEM, the meeting point of the international cement industry, started in Istanbul with the cooperation of the Cement, Glass, Ceramics and Soil Products Exporters' Association (ÇCSİB).
Hosting INTERCEM for the 8th time, approximately 480 industry representatives from over 45 countries attended the meeting in Istanbul.
Speaking at the opening of the event, Abdulhamit Akçay, Vice Chairman of the Board of ÇCSİB, stated that they predicted that the global growth in the cement industry will remain below 3 percent for this year.
Akçay stated that this year, the effects of the contraction in demand due to the slowdown in the Chinese economy, the ongoing war in Europe and the concern of the economic crisis.
“SECTOR SET ITS PRIORITY AS THE DOMESTIC MARKET”
Reminding that after the earthquake disaster on 6 February, the sector determined the priority for the reconstruction of the region as the domestic market, Akçay said that the works carried out in this context are continuing at full speed.
Akçay stated that Turkish cement manufacturers act with the responsibility of contributing to this structuring, and as a result, there has been an increase of 16 percent in the domestic market.
"However, the extra demand due to reconstruction will not affect our exports", he said.
“WE AIM TO COMPENSATE BY INCREASING ON THE BASIS OF TONNAGE”
Explaining that the Turkish cement industry has lost some of its competitiveness due to the global recession and the low price policy implemented by the countries that have the advantage of low energy costs, Akçay said, "As a result, we anticipate that our industry, which closed 2022 with an export of 1.6 billion dollars, will experience a 20 percent decrease in exports by the end of this year, taking into account the increased domestic demand after the earthquake. In 2024, we aim to regain this 20% loss. We anticipate that we will achieve this by deepening the market and increasing exports on a tonnage basis."