“We covered the need for 10 million tons of cement in the earthquake zone”
Fatih Yücelik, president of the Turkish Cement Industry Association (Turkcimento), said: “Our cement factories in and near the earthquake area have the capacity and strength to deliver all the cement needed here.”
yucelik said:
“We have made close to 300 container connections so far. I take what we can find. We start from Kahramanmaras. Each of our cement factories already provides significant support independently.
As an industry, we have supported construction crews from the very beginning. We send cement factories, construction equipment and labor to the region for search and rescue activities. It’s really a big mess. We start the best from the first moment, and we continue.
We have companies with connections abroad, and help has started to come from their headquarters abroad. As one heart, we are in the problem of resurrecting that region and covering the wounds.”
‘WE ARE NOT GOING TO EXPORT’
Noting that there are around 7-8 cement factories in the earthquake zone, Yücelik said:
“Some of them are very large factories in terms of capacity. They are twice the size of the normal standard. We anticipate that the need will be 10 million tons of cement. There is more than this capacity in the region, there will be no shortage of cement.
There are factories in Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa and Adana. There are factories in Mersin, Kayseri and Elazig in the nearby provinces. ‘What can we do, will it be enough?’ we calculate. Cement factories work in 3 shifts, that is, 24 hours a day. There are around 50 cement factories in Turkey and 15 cement factories in the region, together with the surrounding provinces.”
In that process, Yücelik affirmed that no factory would turn to export when there was a need for cement in the region, saying: “Nobody would go for such a price increase because ‘demand increased’ while the industry needs it. Our companies consider each house as their own and act with sensitivity, and we will continue to do so. The homeland is ours, this land is ours. Everyone should be happy at the cement supply point.” (AA)