Present in Istanbul, despite the winds of war

The Tüyap Fair, Convention and Congress Center in Istanbul provided the setting, from 3 to 6 December, for the twenty-fifth Plast Eurasia exhibition, which is Turkey’s leading event for the plastic materials and rubber sector.

According to recent data issued by Pagev (one of the two industry associations in Turkey that supports the organisation of this exhibition), the turnover of the Turkish plastic materials industry, which numbers around 14,000 companies and over 250,000 employees, recorded an overall increase of 1.4% in the period January-June 2015 compared with the same period in 2014. Domestic consumption of finished goods, which amounted to 3.8 million tons (an increase of 2.6%), was the driving force behind this growth, while exports were down. Still in the first six months of 2015, Italy supplied Turkey with 44 million euros’ worth of plastic and rubber processing machinery and moulds (following the 94 million recorded in the whole of 2014), with extruders, worth around 7.5 million euros, accounting for the largest share.