Dr. Mehmet Şeker, Board Member of Erdemoğlu Holding and SASA Polyester Sanayi A.Ş., one of the companies within the Holding and a source of pride for Turkey, has told memohaber Editor-in-Chief Mehmet Taşçı all the details of the success story they wrote after SASA was purchased from Sabancı Holding.

He explained that, with the investments made by SASA, which continues to climb the ranks every year in Turkey's 500 Largest Companies, they will end the imports of polyester raw material and produce Turkey's polyester raw material. SASA also made a name for itself with its investments in Solar Power Plant and Wind Power Plant projects, and became one of the largest enterprises in Turkey, with its investments in the region, employment capacity, and production capacity.

With its investments in Gaziantep and Adana, SASA, which has become one of the world's colossal companies in commercial terms, makes great contributions to closing the current account deficit of these provinces as well as the country through its production and employment capacity. Providing a substantial added value to the country, SASA increases its production capacity, especially with its investments in the PTA Facility, which is the raw material of polyester, and Solar Power Plant, and carries out important works in terms of exports. SASA will produce basic petrochemical products such as Polypropylene, Polyethylene, PVC, Acrylonitrile, and Styrene in Turkey, which are imported as more than 10 million tons.

PRODUCTION CAPACITY HAS INCREASED FOUR TIMES
Dr. Mehmet Şeker, Board Member of SASA polyester Sanayi A.Ş, stated that the production has increased fourfold since the day the company was acquired by Erdemoğlu Holding, and said that apart from this investment of Turkey, there is no such investment in Europe, Russia, and North Africa, and that they will appeal to these regions as well. Dr. Şeker said, "When SASA was acquired by Erdemoğlu Holding in 2015, it was a factory employing approximately 1000 people. There was an annual production of around 270,000 tons. As of today, we have approximately 5 thousand employees. Our production capacity increased approximately fourfold, reaching 1,4 million tons annually. We have invested 3,2 billion dollars, with the condition that it will be completed entirely by the end of 2024.

This is the largest investment in the Mediterranean region in the history of the Republic of Turkey. After approximately all of our operations are completed, we will have obtained nearly 2,2 million tons of salable products. When our PTA facility comes into operation, we will now produce our own raw materials instead of purchasing them from China or Korea. We are currently paying approximately one billion dollars annually for this raw material, and we will produce all of this raw material here. Apart from this investment we will make in Turkey, there is no such investment in Europe. There are none in North Africa or Russia. We will also appeal to these regions. We will try to sell the surplus of the goods we produce in these regions. There are currently approximately 9,000 people working on the construction and installation side. SASA has nearly 5 thousand permanent employees; therefore, 14,000 people in Adana enter the door of SASA every day and go home in the evening.

I believe that SASA will come to much better places in terms of stock value. But what is really important here is to increase production capacity, increase employment, acquire value-added income, and increase export capacity. These are all important parameters for us. We have increased our exports from approximately 100,000,000 dollars to 500,000,000 dollars a year. Our average export is around 400,000,000 dollars, but after filling the entire capacity, we have an export target of 1 billion dollars in SASA's facilities in Adana. We will achieve this target as well."

STOCK EXCHANGE IS A SERIOUS INVESTMENT SOURCE
Dr. Mehmet Şeker stated that the stock market is a serious investment source and noted that those who wait for the short term lose, so people need to now see that the stock market is also a serious long-term investment source. Dr. Şeker said, "The stock market is an investment tool; people will invest. They should make these investments for the long term. Anyone who entered the stock market with the idea of ​​investing today, making money tomorrow, and becoming rich in three days will lose. Investing in the stock market must be long-term. There are people at SASA who started with us and have invested for 8 years. SASA shares have increased by more than 200 times in 8 years. What kind of investment do people expect?

The people who wait in the stock market for the short term, those who think they can make money from here in the short term and achieve something, have always lost and will lose. So now people should see that the stock market is also a serious investment source. Stock market investment is not made by borrowing, nor stock market investment is made by selling real estate. Real estate investment is not made by selling cars and houses. People will also learn these things gradually.


Today, approximately 7 and a half million people have investments in the stock market. In developed countries, stock market investments are very, very high, both in terms of bank deposits and compared to other investments; that is, these investments are ahead of all other investments, and their duration is very long. For example, in developed countries, in the United States, the average length of stay of people in the stock market is over one year. But for us, this period is at most 30 days. So people buy a stock and exit it the next day. They want to earn a few pennies and put money in their pocket, but this is not the right method, after all, investments are made in the stock market in order to contribute to the country's economy.

The company you invest in the stock market means a company that invests in the future of Turkey. As SASA, we constantly produce and continue to contribute to the country's economy.  Today, the owners are the property of the state of the Republic of Turkey, regardless of who they are based on the stock market value. All of them are domestic, all of them are national. There are over 100 thousand investors in SASA. We have about 20% investors. There are very serious fund companies that make long-term investments. The most criticism here is the comments made by journalist friends who do not know the economy and who do not know investment programs, which I am angry with, and please do not take it on as you are a journalist. We are talking about an investment in which 9,000 people enter and work in the morning and assemble, first of all, we know that our friends who come and see these investments do not hide their admiration. We are building a facility that will contribute to the future of our country, we are building a facility that will reduce the current account deficit; we need to look at it this way. With this investment, we said to the Chinese and Indian, ‘You will no longer be able to sell fiber, thread and polyester here.’ This is our national stance. This facility is a national facility. It is necessary to be careful when criticizing and speaking."

WE WILL BUILD TURKEY'S LARGEST PETROCHEMICAL FACILITY
Expressing that they are working on an important investment project in Adana Yumurtalık, Dr. Mehmet Şeker underlined that they will establish Turkey's largest petrochemical facility and added that they will reduce Turkey's external dependence on petrochemicals. Dr. Şeker said, "Our investments in SASA will end at the end of this year. After that, we will move on to Yumurtalık. Our investments in Yumurtalık will continue with the presidential declaration of a special industrial zone and urgent expropriation. Our investment there will last approximately 10 years. We will build Turkey's largest petrochemical facility. We will build facilities that will prevent the import of chemical substances; Turkey’s imports of them today is approximately 18 billion dollars. Once we start establishing this facility, it will reach 25 billion dollars by the end of 2025. First we will build a port, then we will build our refinery and polypropylene facilities. Ultimately, we will contribute 5 billion dollars to Turkey's current account deficit. Our work on this continues. After our investments there, we will make our other investments. There is a serious demand from abroad for these investments. There are famous companies in the world that say, ‘Let's be partners and do it together.’ We will decide when that day comes.
We will determine the method that is in favor of our country, in favor of our people, and in favor of our company, by discussing all the formulas ourselves, if necessary by receiving a loan, if necessary by taking a partner. The facility we will build in Yumurtalık in Adana is a very large facility. It is a facility that we will build on an area of ​​approximately 12,000,000 square meters. First of all, we will build a port there. We had a lot of trouble in Adana. We can bring a piece of equipment from Mersin to Adana in a week, we remove the bridges, we make bypasses, we put all the electrical wires underground. We did all of this ourselves. As this process is long, we will make a port first. We will bring all the equipment by ship. We will provide ease of transportation. We will have gone one step further in logistics. I repeat this everywhere, the investments we will make will shed light on the future of our country. There is only one way for the country to get out of this spiral of wondering how much the dollar is worth and what the interest rate will be, and it is to produce and reduce foreign dependency. We will reduce Turkey's external dependence on petrochemicals. We are working for this. Other companies should also invest in this regard. After our investment, there will certainly be new investments. These will also make serious contributions to the country's economy. Our exports must be more than our imports. So we have to have a current account surplus. Otherwise, we will be struggling with whether money came from abroad or not, how many liras are the dollar."

IT WILL MAKE A SERIOUS CONTRIBUTION TO THE COUNTRY'S ECONOMY
Pointing out that this project will make a serious contribution to the country's economy, Dr. Mehmet Şeker said that they are currently doing ground surveys there, drawing up fault maps, and receiving EIA reports. Stating that marine investigations have been carried out and that these are long-term works, Dr. Şeker said, "Now, we have only done ground surveys there. We prepared the fault maps, and received the EIA reports. We are having marine inspections done. These are all long-term jobs. After these are finished, we will start the port. Following the port, we will start the polypropylene plant and continue with the refinery. In the end, we will invest 25 billion dollars in today's money. The most important thing here is that we will produce all the aromatic chemicals imported by Turkey ourselves. This will make a serious contribution to the country's economy. Is it enough? It is not enough, so another facility like what we will do must be built to reduce Turkey's dependence on foreign sources; we have pressed the button for this. Maybe someone else will try to make such investments by pressing the button in the Aegean region, in the Black Sea region, in another region of Turkey.  China and India are far ahead in this regard. As far as India, we will be on the side of North Africa, Europe, even part of America, and Russia. This will be the strongest polyester plant in the region. We continue to work on this."

SASA IS NUMBER ONE IN TURKEY
Mentioning that SASA is by far the leader in the field of production, Dr. Mehmet Şeker said, ''Currently SASA is number one in Turkey. It is by far the leader in polyester with a production of 1,4 million tons. There is no company in Europe that produces at this capacity. But despite this, we are quite behind in polyester in the world. So we are currently at 1,5%. One day this figure may be 3%, but we started too late. China, India, and Korea are far ahead in this regard. After these investments, we will control at least Europe, North Africa, Russia, and the region up to India. SASA will be the big player here. We are even planning investments there to become a big player in the US, as the next step. If we achieve these, Turkey will be free from foreign dependency in this regard. In addition, polyester is a strategic product. That is to say, there is no place it does not enter. It exists in the pharmaceutical industry, it exists in the textile industry, it exists in the automotive industry, it exists in the cable industry, it exists in home textiles. It exists in almost every area of life. That's why polyester, which was born as a substitute for cotton, has become the number one among almost all textile products in the world today. We will do our best to further develop it as a petrochemical product, produce newer products, and offer them to the service of citizens.

We also work together with the defense industry. What can we do, how can we contribute to our country? We hold meetings from time to time with all organizations of the defense industry concerning where our products can go in the defense industry. We work on the products they demand. Our aim here is not to make a profit or make money by doing these, but to contribute to our country's defense industry. We currently have carpet yarn facilities in Gaziantep. We are making investments that expand our current investments here. In this context, we have investments in recycling. We have investments in renewing and developing our machines. We have already made a serious investment in the carpet sector and we are working to develop it. In addition, we have now started the construction for the production of bottle chips at Merinos' own factory. We completed their purchase. We are making an investment here, which will be approximately 240 million dollars, maybe a little over. I think this will most likely become operational in the first 3 months of 2025. We are building a facility in Antep that has the capacity to produce approximately 900 tons of bottle chips and textile chips a day. This is the biggest investment we have made in Gaziantep right now. ''
 
WE PLAN ALL DAY LONG
Talking about the work pace at SASA, Dr. Mehmet Şeker stated that plans are made throughout the day and said, "We have been there for 8 years. We are leaving in the morning. We follow our production, we follow our workers. We are working on what we can do in our future programs. We work to ensure that our raw material inputs are healthy so that our shipments are healthy. As you know, there is a problem in the Suez Canal. We aim to dock the ships, bring the raw materials, and make our plans without interrupting production.

In other words, we do many things at once, but this is the nature of the business. The important thing is to overcome the problems, to continue production, to maintain employment, and to be least affected by crises. There was a pandemic; we experienced the pandemic. We worked in 3 shifts during the pandemic. We produced all the products that Turkey needed and delivered them everywhere. They did not come from China, they did not come from India, they did not come from the Far East. We provided all kinds of products that Turkish industrialists need. Now we are in the same position again. There are problems in the Suez Canal again. Ships arrive at our ports late. Logistics costs have increased significantly. We are planning to produce and deliver all the yarn, fiber, bottle chips, and textile chips that our industrialists need."

THIS SECTOR WILL DEVELOP
Highlighting the fact that the sector is developing, Dr. Mehmet Şeker ended his interview as follows: ''This sector will develop. At the beginning of the 1900s, cotton was produced in the world, textile products were obtained from cotton; today polyester has replaced cotton in the world and increased thousands of times the production of that day. To clothe so many people, to meet the medical needs of so many people, to meet the needs of so many people in the automotive sector, especially to meet their needs in terms of hygiene, polyester will be indispensable for people in the coming period. The most important feature of polyester here is that it is recycled. In other words, it does not pose harm to nature. It will be the most important strategic material used in the world in the upcoming years. As SASA, we work hard, we produce, we contribute to the country's economy, WE ARE ONLY DOMESTIC, ONLY NATIONAL!! STAY TUNED!!!

News Source: memohaber
Link to the News: https://bit.ly/4a3tKno