The hardware sector, reaching 8 billion USD in size with 14 thousand companies in Turkey is going to join forces founding The Association of Hardware Industrialists and Business People (HISİAD) under the Presidency of Çetin TECDELİOĞLU.
Speaking at the founding meeting of the Association of Hardware Industrialists and Business People (HISİAD), president Çetin Tecdelioğlu said that they are joining forces at a new level by taking in the global companies. Pointing out that the hardware is a very comprehensive sector, Tecdelioglu said that 13 thousand 942 firms operating in this sector creating employment for 1 million people along with the subsidiary industry and related sectors.
Mr. Tecdelioğlu stated that they want inclusion of not only the industrialists and manufacturers, but also distributors, dealers, and business people who perform trades in the business as they have very valuable experiences of many years in distributions and logistics networks. Tecdelioglu, continued:
"The business of tradesmen has already turned into logistics. What we need to do about them, how we will set up distribution networks, how to get into e-commerce? We have a lot of global competitors. The big web sites in the world have come, penetrated, opened warehouses. We will find a way how to defy them and how to maintain our existance without losing the hardware market."
Export and import figures are running too close
Pointing that hardware sector last year made 4.08 billion dollars in exports Tecdelioğlu said, "We are one of the most important and value-added items of Turkey's exports with an export unit price of 3.62 dollars per kilogram. Almost 3 times that of Turkey's exports. However, our import volume is 3.99 billion dollars. We do not have a current account deficit but we are pretty close. We need to push it on to positive to become a sector with a clear current surplus. We must work with a little more domestic and national focus."
Noting that Turkey has an important place in the hardware industry, Mr. Tecdelioğlu added, "For example in nails we rank 14th in the world average and 7th in Europe. In copper pipe fittings we rank 7th in the world, 5th in Europe. In aluminum pipe fittings and aluminum accessories, we are in fifth place in Europe. In all these sectors, we want to race to top two places. For that, we will give great importance to subjects such as which countries we may have opportunities, which countries to prioritize, which regions we can sell goods, how we can increase our exports. This is one of the most important goals of our association."
