Stationary to benefit from new kids in class

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

New law for kids to start school at 60 months has stationary sector beaming.

A change in the law that allows children to start primary school as early as 60 months, from a previous limit of 66 months, will benefit the country’s stationery sector, according to Mehmet Helvacıoğlu, the head of the sector organization TÜKİD.

On average, families spend $50-60 per student when starting school, and this does not include uniforms, Helvacıoğlu told Anatolia news agency.

“A great accumulation will start with the registration of the new students. We have estimated that around 230,000 students will start school this year, which is a total business volume of $12-13 million,” he said.

The stationery sector has reached a total volume of $4 billion, Helvacıoğlu added. “There are 12,500 stationeries in Turkey. In a country with 14.5 million students, the sector’s seasonal revenue is $1.5 billion.”

He also spoke of the improvements in terms of quality in stationery products. “Thanks to the work of the government with regard to removing carcinogenic substances from the market, the business was left to the stationers.” 

However, one of the leading problems the sector faces is that supermarkets also selling stationery goods, he said, labeling this unfair competition. “Some 85 percent of the sector is running away with the revenues at the opening of the schools,” he said. “The supermarkets, which are selling these promotional products for only one week, are leaving stationers in a very difficult situation,” 
The TÜKİD head said he expected the retail dealers not to lend credence to dishonest trading.