Yener BLACK SEA / ISTANBUL
Merinos Carpet, which has the highest capacity in the carpet industry not only in Turkey but also in the world, invests 200 million dollars in polyester chips. The machine park, whose feasibility studies have been carried out, is expected to become operational in 2024 and to contribute 400 million dollars annually to the group’s turnover.
Merinos Carpet Board Member Mehmet Erdemoğlu pointed out that despite the slowdown in the sector in recent months, they continue to invest, and said, “We made another investment decision. We will establish a polyester chips production facility for which the EIA report has been received and the construction works have started. An investment of approximately 200 million dollars. We got the machines. It will be installed in approximately 1.5-2 years. When this installation is realized, we will have produced polyester chips, which is the raw material of the carpet, with an annual production capacity of 300 thousand tons. Our other company, SASA, made this much larger investment. We were supplying from there for 2-3 years. Then we, as Merinos, decided to invest.” said.
It will employ 500 people
Stating that the facility to be located in the Gaziantep factory of the company will meet the needs of Merinos Halı, Erdemoğlu said, “The investment in question will add 400 million dollars to the company’s turnover. dollar provide support. It will come into effect around 2024. Thus, everything from polymer to carpet production will be under the same roof under the merino roof. This will be a first in the world in the carpet industry. It will be a fully integrated structure. There is no such facility in the world. Here, too, we want to be the first in the world.” used the phrases. 5 thousand 500 people are currently working under the Merinos roof. With the new investment, this figure will increase to 6 thousand.
7 percent share of the world alone
The company continues to invest not only in raw materials but also in carpet production. Explaining that new machines are coming to both Dinarsu and Merinos factories every month, Erdemoğlu said, “With the new investment, our share in the world machine-made carpets will increase from 6 percent to 7 percent by the first quarter of 2023. We are currently working with 80 percent capacity in carpet. This rate is also good, but we are not used to these capacities. We always aim for 100 percent. We are constantly visiting, traveling for the better. We visit USA and EU market. Right now the market is in a much worse condition there.” used the phrases.
Capacity doubled
According to the information given by Erdemoğlu, the production capacity of Dinarsu, together with Merinos, is 150 million square meters in total, 100 million square meters for tufted carpets and 50 million square meters for machine carpets. Reminding that this figure was 70 million square meters 2-3 years ago, Erdemoğlu informed that they have increased their capacity by more than 100 percent in the intervening period. The company closed 2021 with a turnover of 4 billion TL. Erdemoğlu stated that they are targeting this figure to 7.5 billion TL this year, and that they expect Erdemoğlu Holding’s turnover to increase from 23 billion TL to 50 billion TL.
‘Time does not suit you, you will suit time’
Mehmet Erdemoğlu, who gave information about the vision of the company, said: “We have never been a company that looks after the day. We are trying to knead the best dough according to the conditions of the day. We are making plans for 5-10 years. We direct our investments accordingly. Our founder Mehmet Erdemoglu has a saying, ‘Time does not suit you, you will adapt to time’. We are trying to make the best halva according to the conditions of this time. It happens both in summer and in winter. We are in winter now. Of course, summer will come and we are preparing for that period. This is the reason for our new investments. We do not make snap decisions. We are not a company that ever complains about anything.”
“We will continue to be a carpet production center”
Mehmet Erdemoğlu, who also made sectoral evaluations, stated that the capacities in the sector have decreased, therefore there are also those who sell their machines. Erdemoğlu said, “Everyone’s decision is their own, but our country will continue to be the carpet center of the world and we will increase our share in the cake. If everyone continues to invest hand in hand with our colleagues, we will increase this share. The sector is going through a difficult period in 2022. No customer requests in 2020 and 2021. Consumer demand has fallen. A similar situation is experienced not only in carpets, but also in product demands in other sectors. Currently, the number of companies working at full capacity, especially in the carpet industry, is quite low. There are also significant decreases in export figures.” he said.