How is the plastic industry going through 2020, what do the numbers indicate?
 
The capacity utilization in the Turkish Plastics Industry, which is sixth in the world and second in Europe after Germany, increased in January-February and March 2020 compared to the same period of 2019, but after a significant decline in April, it started to increase again. Capacity utilization in October 2020 was 1 point below when compared to the same month of 2019. The capacity utilization of the sector, which was 72.6% in the January-October period of 2019, decreased to an average of 70% in the January-October period of 2020.
The plastics industry made an investment of 682 million dollars in machinery in the first 10 months of 2020. 67% of the machinery investment was made up of imported machines. In the January-October period of 2020, compared to the January-October period of 2019, the production in the plastic end products sector decreased by 1.1%, imports increased by 3.2% and exports increased by 19.2%. During this period, domestic consumption decreased by 5.4% on amount compared to the same period a year ago. The decline in production remained low thanks to the increase in exports.  
According to İKMİB data; Exports of plastic and plastic products (the sum of plastic raw materials and plastic products) reached $ 5 billion 112 million in the first 10 months of 2020 and increased by 0.13% compared to the same period of 2019. The share of the plastics industry in the chemical industry exports, which was 30% in the first 10 months of 2019, increased to 34.4% in the first 10 months of 2020.
In 2020 compared to 2019; production is expected to decrease by 1.8%, imports by 2.6%, domestic consumption by 5.3%, and exports are expected to increase by 11.9%.
 
The pandemic caused disruptions in some sectors. How was the plastic industry affected?
 
Masks, disinfectant packages, visors, cologne bottles, test kits, hygienic food packaging, which became the basic need during the pandemic process and produced from plastic raw materials, played a vital role. The demand for packaged products that reduce the risk of contamination increased, and this triggered an increase in production. Especially new business opportunities and opportunities emerged in the medical sector. On the other hand, the obligation of the ministry to sell vegetables-fruits and bread in bags and the use of disposable plastic products instead of metal-glass spoons, forks, glasses, table dots in factories and workplaces also caused an increase in demand for disposable products. Due to the increase in demand, the density of packaging production and investments is particularly noteworthy.
 
How are your expectations for the next year?
 
Lower growth is expected in 2021. According to Turkey's economic update OECD estimated that the 2020 recession forecast to 1.3 percent from 2.9 percent pulled. It reduced its 2021 growth forecast from 3.9 percent to 2.9 percent. The OECD states that while vaccines emerge and recovery continues, the outlook for the global economy has improved despite the second coronavirus wave in many countries. The growth rate in the plastics industry in the past years has been 1–1.5 points above the GNP growth rate. If the GNP grows by 3% in 2021, it is estimated that the production in the plastics industry will increase by at least 4%.
In the event of a recovery in the export markets of the sector, especially in Europe, plastic product and raw material exports are expected to force 6 billion dollars.
 
What are the primary demands of your industry? What are your first expectations in 2021?
 
Although the sector meets only 13% of its raw material needs with domestic production, it is deprived of raw material supply opportunities at more economical prices by imposing taxes on imports in order to protect domestic production. This situation reduces the competitive export opportunities of the sector in global markets in order to protect the domestic raw material producer. Instead of imposing taxes on raw material imports, domestic producers should be protected by applying incentives to reduce production and investment costs. If the production of plastic raw materials does not meet the needs, the obstacles to import should be removed. Another important problem of the sector is that it cannot provide sufficient added value. There are two main ways to provide higher added value in production and export. These are to produce innovative products with high added value and / or to increase the profit margin by reducing costs without sacrificing quality.
 
negative developments in Turkey and the world economies, the standstill in the plastics industry makes it difficult to compete with or even declining sales prices and profit margins are narrow.
One of the primary problems of the industry today is high energy costs. Our industrialist, who uses Europe's most expensive electricity, loses his chance to compete due to the YEKDEM price reflected on the invoices. Employment is also adversely affected. For example, as the plastics industry, we use 16 percent of the total electricity consumed in the industry. Our bills are rising due to the cost of YEKDEM. The system, in which all of the renewable energy investments are burdened by the industrialists, is no longer sustainable. As a solution, we suggest switching to a TL-based model, where free competition is the way to tenders in renewable energy. Turkey may take as an example the German model in this regard. Instead of foreign currency-based high fixed price incentives in YEKDEM, which keeps our industrialists away from competitive production with its constantly increasing and unpredictable high costs, We should switch to a competitive bidding method and a TL-based support model. Thus, we must open renewable energy investments to competition.
 
To increase the added value of production in Turkey should also be among the most important goals. In this context, our centers working on R&D and innovation, where value-added production is required, should increase and the number of projects produced in these centers should accelerate. PAGEV, which has adopted the mission of paving the way for our industry, laid the foundations of PAGEV Plastic Excellence Center in order to increase the production with high added value. It is necessary to express with regret that we have not yet received financial support from the public for this project.
 
While talking about the problems and solution suggestions in our industry, it is useful to mention the recycling industry that has attracted the most investments recently. Our sector members demand that their exports abroad be exempted from the waste import quota. In this context, from the quota system established by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization this year, we requested that the items to be exported outside the country be calculated outside the quota in terms of both foreign currency input and environmental impact.
As another important topic that concerns our companies, we think that the GEKAP issue should be planned without creating a burden on our industrialists.
 
 
Which countries will stand out in export markets? Why is that?
 
In the January-October period of 2020, 51% of plastic product exports on amount basis and 49% on value basis were directed to 10 countries. It ranks first in plastic product exports to Iraq. Subsequently, Germany, England, Israel, USA, Italy, France, Romania, Spain and Libya constitute the countries to which most plastic products are exported. The USA and the Far East are expected to stand out among the potential new export markets. Other countries that are not included in the top 10 exports of our industry will also constitute our important potential markets in the coming period.
 
What can you suggest about the 2021 prospects?
 
  Developments in the world and some positive signs in the economy, suggesting that Turkey continued to observe the possible risk factors. Therefore, uncertainty is generally expected to lead to risk aversion and prudent resource use. With the vaccine available, we expect a rapid recovery in the second half of 2021.
 
  Considering the place of plastic in our lives, is it possible to abandon plastic or replace it with another product?
 
Plastics are indispensable materials of the future, which are used as alternative materials or together with these materials instead of glass, metal, rubber, wood, inorganic materials all over the world. Plastics; It is the main input material of many sectors from food to health, construction to automotive, cosmetics to textiles.
Increasing its share in the global economy rapidly, plastic materials offer significant advantages over alternatives. Plastics, which are much more economical and easily applicable, also contain opportunities in terms of logistics.
The raw material of plastic is the waste part of petroleum. The most valuable parts of oil are valued as automotive, aviation and energy fuel. Plastic is produced from only 4 percent of the most valuable part (NAFTA) of oil. In other words, we can say that a kind of plastic evaluates the unusable part of petrol. In addition, it is possible to recycle this 4 percent to the economy with recycling. Every barrel of oil used to make plastic materials means carbon dioxide, which is not released into the atmosphere, which is extremely important for the environment. Plastics offe