[Huligar]

One of Turkey's biggest natural stone mining companies, Silkar Mining, is expanding to China through building a pilot plant, according to Silkar representatives speaking in a press conference in Istanbul on Friday.

Silkar Mining, founded in 1990 and specialized in natural stone – marble, granite and mosaics – has become “one of the best mosaic producers in the world,” according to Erdoğan Akbulak, Silkar chairman of the board of directors. “With the help of natural marble and travertine stocks of more than 120 variations, we gathered an artist's perspective to apply to our products; the outcome is rewarding,” said Akbulak.

We are planning to use our company know-how to process China's natural resources through its cheap labor market,” Akbulak continued. “After building distribution channels from the United States [San Francisco, Connecticut] to Europe [Germany], Silkar will augment its share in the natural stone market.”

Silkar ranks sixth in Turkish natural stone market, with $15 million in exports annually. The market has a $1.25 billion export volume.



Steady growth:

Last year, Silkar achieved a growth trend by augmenting its exports by 27 percent and its total sales by 37 percent. “As developed economies are stunned by a credit crunch and the [subprime] mortgage crisis, companies cannot easily attain long-term loans. In other words, investments are ratcheted down in these countries,” said Akbulak, hinting at transferring investment to “petro-dollar economies and emerging markets.”

“This year will be the year of difficulties,” Akbulak noted. “We have to get used to hearing words such as limited profit margins, the need to enhance productivity, profit-making measures, customer profitability and product profitability.”

Akbulak said his company has more to gain by investing in China, saying, “We are not closing down the plants in Turkey, just increasing our capacity with our recent investments in China.”