Glassware and industrial kitchen exporters, once part of Istanbul Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Metals Exporters’ Association, IDDMIB, started to form a new association.

Ahmet Gürkaynak, Chairman of Commercial Kitchen, Laundry and Catering Equipment Manufacturers and Distributors Association, TUSID, said efforts before the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TİM) and the Ministry of Economy have been ongoing to establish the Turkish Glassware and Industrial Kitchen Exporters’ Association. Gürkaynak informed that until today porcelain, ceramic, glass, metal, plastic, souvenir, small household appliances and industrial kitchen product groups were under the roof of IDDMIB with regard to export classification “According to the existing practice in Turkey, exporter companies in the industrial kitchen sector operate in accordance with exporters’ associations that are organized according to the kind of material they export. But this creates some problems in the industry,” TUSID Chairman Gürkaynak said. Ahmet Gürkaynak said that in order to solve these problems, efforts are ongoing to create a new association. “Although our sector has achieved $ 4 billion of export, it still has a very small share around 1.5 or 2 percent of the export figures of different product / raw material groups that are represented in the associations it is represented. This situation is reducing our sector’s ability to represent themselves in exporters’ associations. Our efforts to form the Turkish Glassware and Industrial Kitchen Exporters’ Association before TİM and the Economy Ministry in order to bring the issues of our sector to agenda in a more strong way within the framework of activities and incentives that will bolster our exports have been accelerated,” he added.