Fiber sector wants its own OIZ

The Aegean stakeholders of the fiber sector, which exported 1 billion 236 million dollars last year, demand their own Organized Industrial Zone (OIZ) in Izmir.

Ahmet Tayfun, Committee Chairman of the Fiber Weaving and Finishing Processes Occupational Committee affiliated to the Aegean Region Chamber of Industry, said, “As a committee, we have a demand for a boutique organized industrial zone allocated to us, provided that we do not move away from central Izmir. We are already working on renewable energy and we are planning to plan a project on sustainable production in the aforementioned organized industrial zone.”

“The number of interns does not meet the demand”

Stating that the same problems experienced by all industrialists also exist in the fiber sector, Tayfun listed these problems as follows: “Exchange rates, access to finance, shortage of qualified personnel, personnel costs, failure to train personnel from below, failure to train personnel as in industrial vocational high schools and other vocational high schools, energy costs, closed enterprises, decreasing demand, transportation costs.” Tayfun said that they continue to negotiate with vocational high schools for trainee staff and added, “We are hiring trainee staff, albeit in small numbers, but they do not meet our demands.” Describing the fiber sector as the rings of a chain from the field to the end user, Tayfun said, “We can group these rings in five main groups: ginning, fiber, yarn, fabric and finishing processes. Each institution represents an important success in our sector.”

“150-200 acres is enough for us”

Pointing out that the current issues of the sector are sustainable production, carbon footprint and organized industrial zone, Tayfun said, “We constantly keep this on the agenda in our own committee. We have a demand for an organized industrial zone. If it is approved, 150-200 acres will be enough for us.  I think that we will be much more beneficial here by reducing the costs here in the problems of energy costs and falling demands,” he said.