"We are confident that the Turkish Lighting Industry will be a production center for European countries and a distribution and logistics center for all surrounding geographies." We had an interview with Fahir Gök about the sector.
What is the current state of the industry? (World and Turkish market size, growth rate, import and export figures etc.)
The development of the Lighting Industry started in our country in the 60s with the production of transparent bulbs and fluorescent bulbs. Today, the production of bulbs has completely stopped, and industry representatives mainly manufacture fixtures. In the conjuncture we are in, our country and surrounding country markets are growing rapidly and naturally the Turkish lighting manufacturing sector is developing rapidly.
In fact, the historical development of the AGİD makes the rapid development of the sector clear and clear.AGİd started 15 years ago with a very small number of manufacturers and limited opportunities, and today we have 85 members. Lighting Sector has surpassed the production size of $2 billion with its 7% growth calculated based on the data obtained from the previous years.
Can you share the problems experienced by the sector and your solutions?
One of the most important problems of the lighting sector is unfair competition and studies carried out within this scope.
In recent years, we have come a long way as AGİd in this regard. We have had various discussions with the Ministries of Economy, Industry and Customs and have reached a certain point. We shared with our members that serious measures will be implemented in the import of poor quality goods, and that measures such as Customs Duty, Specialized Customs, Anti-Dumping investigation, Market Control will be taken and implemented for the protection of our domestic industrialists. Within this framework, the Ministry of Industry has carried out intensive work on market supervision and supervision. Especially imports from China produce very serious negative consequences against our country. One of these results is the rapid increase in the import figure, and another is the acceleration of the entry of poor quality goods into the country. In addition to market supervision and supervision of the Ministry of Industry within the framework of the audits, TSE controls are tightened at customs and imports of goods that are problematic, especially in terms of documents and quality, are not allowed. However, there is one important point here that this is that TSE performs its service quickly and effectively. Because any delay especially victimizes the domestic producer and has a direct impact on our exports. It is worth explaining a point here that not every product imported from the Far East, and especially China, is inferior. Of course, it is necessary to exclude quality goods made in accordance with technical standards.
As of today, the lighting sector has become an important actor for the surrounding geographies with its developing sub-industry and production dynamics, especially with the dynamism experienced in the domestic and international construction sector.
What are the developments awaiting the Turkish market and your predictions for the future of the market?
The lighting industry is undergoing significant change and development. Energy efficiency, environmental factor and comfort are the first reasons for the big change in the lighting sector.
The main actor of this change can be defined as the transition from technologically conventional systems to LED systems. In other words, it is necessary for the sector to leave mechanical and electrical infrastructure and have more electronic infrastructure. The stakeholders of the sector are changing and existing producers need to keep up with this change. All industry players aim for development and change in terms of both production technologies and employment. New stakeholders are particularly advantageous in terms of electronic equipment and existing manufacturers need to be ready for this competition.
LED technology has been the fastest developing technology for the Lighting Industry to date. However, the creation of standards is not at the same pace. Productivity analyses should be done correctly, especially in led technology changes. However, Led technology is not a solution with low initial investment costs. It provides advantages especially with the cost of operation and maintenance.However, if the right product can be applied in the right application with the right change, it can give you an advantage in a certain term.That's the biggest risk of this great change. For this reason, a common terminology on Led technology should be established and communication should be established in the sector.
In this process, dynamic lighting is a rising trend in our developing world, especially when we take into account energy efficiency in our developing world of lighting adapted to the need with another discourse. For this reason, the end user now demands to move the design to the solution size, not the product size.
In this context, our goal as AGİd is to fulfill our duties in a way that will support change, prevent unfair competition, support employment in the sector, and support processes that will ensure the protection of the environment and human health from the production of lighting products to its final disposal.
What are the trends in lighting and what position should Turkey take in this field?
As we mentioned, the lighting sector shows great change and dynamism in our country as well as all over the world. Especially the changes in technology and its strong infrastructure in Turkey's electronics sector play an important role in the dynamism experienced. From this point on, new actors will enter the market in the near future, which will help deepen the market with sustainable growth.
In addition, a number of negatives in the Far East and increased costs create a chance for Turkey to become an important production base and logistics center, especially for the nearby geography and Europe.
As AGİd, we believe that with the contribution and participation of our members, industry actors and stakeholders, the Turkish Lighting Industry will be a production center for European countries and a distribution and logistics center for all surrounding geographies. In particular, it is very important that the state supports and directs us to ensure and sustain development through the benefits of change.
How is Turkey doing and how should it move forward in LED, which is the most developing market in lighting?
The sector varies greatly with LED technology, changing with its product range, manufacturer profile, standards. As we mentioned earlier, it is predicted that 70% of the Lighting Market in the world and Turkey will consist of LED products in 2020.
Not so long ago, we were always saying. This new technology will become widespread very quickly and is developing at an incredible rate and even faster than we expected. The technology is now approaching a head-to-head with some conventional light sources. Perhaps by 2020 the entire market will be equipped with led light source and electronic infrastructure.
Companies that do not keep up with this process both at home and abroad are withdrawn one by one. We can give an example of this from our association structure. When we look at our member profile in the last 5 years, we see that there have been huge changes every year and the number has increased. A very important part of our members are well-established manufacturer lighting companies and the majority of our new members are companies operating in the field of electronics.This is an example of the dynamism experienced by the sector and the change in the sector stakeholders.
The risk of Led becoming a threat, which is an important opportunity for the industry, should also be taken into account. It is also important to accurately explain and implement rapidly developing technology. As with any new technology, examples of misappropiation will have an impact on the increased awareness of the technology. We care about lighting according to the needs of all sector stakeholders, applying them with the right lighting technique and the right standards
We can state that the sector provides growth with LED transformation. Manufacturers in the dismantler are developing in electronic infrastructure, today our number of members with their own lighting laboratory is increasing. Now our manufacturers are more corporate. In particular, it is very important for the state to support and direct in this regard.
Can you tell us about agİd's support for IstanbulLight Fair?
IstanbulLight is an event that we have supported this side from its organization in itu Taskşla corridors in the 90s and that we attach importance to our sector together with ATMK.
Over the years, we've finally reached a very good point. The most important reason for this was that various organizations were being implemented under the lighting fair for various reasons and unfortunately it was negatively affecting the sector due to the fact that the market was not big enough and deep enough.
In the end, Istanbullight is developing and growing more dynamically and positively, gathered under one roof with the efforts of UBM today. Of course, it is important not to ignore the point reached by the sector during this process. Since then, the actors of the sector have also developed and become important actors for the surrounding geographies.
In the conjuncture we are in, our country and surrounding country markets are growing rapidly and naturally the Turkish lighting manufacturing sector is developing rapidly. Istanbullight fair plays a very important role in order for the sector to grow and express itself better in the years ahead, and thanks to its new structure and gathering under one roof, it will be the leading fair of its region in larger areas and with many more national and international participants in the near future.
