Turkey’s top glass maker plans investments to boost capacity at home, abroad

ISTANBUL - Reuters

Turkey’s leading glass maker Şişecam plans to increase production capacity in several facilities at home and in Italy and India, its general manager said.

Şişecam, the third largest producer of glass household goods in the world and fifth largest in production of glass packaging and flat glass, has 44 production sites in 13 countries and produced 2.4 million tons of glass in the first half of 2017.

In an interview late on Aug. 23, Ahmet Kırman told Reuters that Şişecam planned a series of investments domestically and internationally to boost competitive advantage.

“We have plans to modernize and increase the capacity of one of our glass furnaces at our glass packaging factory in Yenişehir,” Kırman said. 

He added the company also planned a new furnace at factories in the northwestern province of Eskisehir and the Polatlı district in Ankara.

He did not give a value for the investments. Last year Şişecam invested 120 million liras ($34.5 million) in the renewal of a glass container factory furnace in the southern Turkish city of Mersin.

Kırman said that Şişecam was also looking for options in Europe to increase their activity in the region by penetrating into new markets, adding that a number of countries were being evaluated.

Şişecam has production sites in Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kırman said the company was very pleased with the performance of a factory which it acquired from Italy’s Sangalli in 2016.

“(The) Sangalli (factory) currently has a production capacity of 220,000 tons per year and its sales performance is great. It has been a very effective point for us to enter the European market, he said.
 
“We may look at increasing capacity again.”

Kırman added that the company would also make a final decision on increasing the capacity or expanding its investment in India.

A planned initial public offering (IPO) for its glassware unit Paşabahçe would have to wait for some time due to a global decline in demand for glass household goods, he said.