Established in 1978, Camsar Integrated Wood Industry and Trade Co., is the first company in Turkey that produced MDF, MDFLAM and laminate flooring products. While the company continues to be a leader in the national industry with its new developments as well as investments, we visited the company’s general manager Mr. Ibrahim Ozcan at his office.
ORSIAD: You recently participated as a panel speaker in Duzce Faculty of Forestry. Can you tell us about that?
Ibrahim Ozcan: The panel was an organization held together with Duzce Faculty of Forestry and ORFAMED association. I should say the students showed great interest even after the panel by asking so many questions. My issue at this panel was the place of forest industry engineers in the sector. During my speech, I reminded them the increasing number of forest faculties in Turkey, which means more students and competition in the sector. But this is nothing to be scared of, if they improve theirs skills and prepare themselves properly to serve the sector. My advice was to learn about technical drawing programs, office programs, even take their driver’s licenses before they finish school as well as learn a foreign language, particularly English. If they speak English well, they can find a job in any other sector as well as abroad. I also reminded them how the forest products sector is growing so fast and this means more need for forest industrial engineering while telling about CAMSAN’s new investments and aim to grow by 2.5 times in 2016.
ORSIAD: Speaking of investments, we know that you are getting ready for a new production line of 1000 m3. When will it start to operate?
Ibrahim Ozcan: We will begin the first MDF production by the beginning of 2016 in January. Currently the construction is still going on and it will finish in May. Then the installation will begin. We have bought a MDF plant that can produce 1000 m3 per day as well as one veneer facility and we are in the process buying another hardwood line facility. With these new investments, our annual MDF production capacity will be rising from 200 thousand m3 to 500 thousand m3 while our hardwood production will be rising from 22 million sqm to 35 million square meters. We needed this development because we couldn’t meet the current market demands. 2014 was a good year for us and yet we could not meet % 20 of market demands. That’s why we decided to invest more. 2015 also looks like to be a good year with more demands and we are hoping this situation will continue in 2016, too.
ORSIAD: Depending on the investment, will there be any search for new dealers in 2016?
Ibrahim Ozcan: We’ve done a research and found out that our existing dealers are able to sell 40 million square meters of flooring annually. This shows us the ready potential of the market. Looking at these results, we can say there’s no need for dramatic changes and look for new dealers. But of course, we are aware that in some provinces we need more dealers and we will work on it. By making minor touches, we believe we can sell our products with our existing dealer network.
ORSIAD: Looking at Parkelam brand, we see that you tend to the product groups in the upper segment. Does this mean you will give up on the 8mm?
Ibrahim Ozcan: 8 mm is our main product and there’s no way we give up on that. We are also aware of the increased demand for high segment products. And after Camsan started to produce high segment products with brands like Platinum and Avangard series, the market continues to grow even bigger. But this doesn’t mean we will stop producing 8mm. We will develop our product range according to the market needs and conditions.
ORSIAD: As we know, you are exporting mainly to Iran, Syria, Iraq, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Russia, Greece, Albania, Georgia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Unfortunately the current situation of Middle East market is in recession. Are you planning to find new markets?
Ibrahim Ozcan: My personal opinion on this matter is the problem with the local companies in the forest products industry not becoming world brands yet. We have always aimed to sell our products in the national market or to the neighbors of our country. And when a problem occurs in the geography, we get limited. But with our new products that are in the high segment, we are able to enter European market. And as a matter of fact, we have started to receive requests from European market. Recently we got an order from Paris. In addition now many of local companies have all of the necessary quality certifications and we are able to compete with our high quality products in the world market. I strongly believe we will be one of the key players in the global market.
ORSIAD: What do you think about the Chinese market? We see a huge market potential with a tendency for the upper segment products.
Ibrahim Ozcan: China obviously is a huge market, but also a country where there is no standard or control. I’m not sure if it’s worth to make such effort in a country like that. I think it’s hard to determine your direction without standards; therefore it’s better to look for other countries.
ORSIAD: What are your plans and considerations for 2015?
Ibrahim Ozcan: I believe 2015 will be even better than 2014. There’s a temporary recession in the market related with the season as well as the changes in the currency. 2014 was a good year for us and comparing to 2015, it was even more full of with uncertainty. For example there were two elections in 2014, now there’s only one in 2015. Indeed, currently, our sales good and we are pleased with the numbers. There is a slight recession in the market but this is seasonal. The recession is 80% depending on the season, I think it would change soon and as a matter of fact we have started to hear from our dealers that it’s changing recently.
ORSIAD: In the beginning of 2016, you will launch the new production line. What are your plans for the next year?
Ibrahim Ozcan: Currently speaking, our 2016 targets include increasing our hardwood production up to 35 million square meters, expanding our product range, developing current products of high segment and classic collections as well as developing new markets for export and expanding our sales network. In 2013, we completed an investment of € 30 million. We bought a flooring line, an impregnation line and established our glue factory in 2013. Now we continue our investments in 2015 and when we complete it, it will be a total of € 70 million additional investment.
