As you know, as per the "Communiqué on Supporting the Improvement of International Competitiveness" no. 2010/8, Turkish Electrical Electronics and Services Exporters Association (TET) has started the second project after fulfilling TURKHAS that was started to facilitate the local companies that export in the White Goods Suppliers Sector toenternew marketsand to improve the exporting capacities.

As a part of this project named "White Goods Suppliers Industry Sector Foreign Marketing Team - TURKHAS 2” which we embarked on with 23 member companies, the objective is to bring a limited number of companies who can collectively create synergy in foreign markets together around a common objective and common marketing operations.

According to the project, these companies are taken to a training program first and those companies that complete the program may participate in common marketing operations including the sector trade delegation, foreign markets research and purchasing delegations, etc. and benefit from the government grant that pays 75% of the costs of training and organizational activities.

In this scope, TURKHAS-2 sent its first Trade Delegation to Iran.

The program was held from November 22 to 28, 2016 and on the first day, Pars Appliances and Himalia, two major White Goods Companies of Iran, were visited. The programs that started with factory visits continued with briefing and publicity meetings.

About Pars Appliances:Pars, an approximately 40-year old company, is an important white goods company that has public share in the Iranian domestic market and has 700 employees. In the meeting held with them, we learnt that the company that produces refrigerators and washing machines has a yearly production volume of 250.000 pieces. They produce every part in-house.

About Himalia: Himalia is a family company that produces refrigerators and has been operated in Tehran for 45 years. It has 400 distributors around the country. This company, too, has an annual production volume of 250.000 pieces. They make new investments and they think of increasing their production volume significantly with a new business in the upcoming years. They produce single- and double-door coolers. Their sister company produces also ovens.

The delegation that was comprised of 14 member companies opened a stand in Hall 6 of the 16^th International Exhibition of Household Appliances Fair that was held on November 24-28.

Considering the population and surface area of Iran and the reliability of Turkish goods in Iran, the fair is a very significant event. It was carried out on an exhibition hall of approximately 20.000 m2 and with 389 participants opening stands.

The main product groups, refrigerators, TVs, washing machines, dishwashers, deep-freezers, vacuum cleaners, ovens, microwave ovens, stove hoods, electric small home appliances, water heaters, electric bath heaters, air conditioners and white goods supply industry and spare parts, glass goods, steel kitchen appliances, porcelain and ceramic products, enamel products, electric house appliances, stainless-coated kitchen appliances, silver-coated giftware, decorative goods…

In the first evening of the fair, the delegation had a dinner organization which was attended by esteemed representatives of Iran’s leading white goods main industry producers and conversed with our members about cooperation in an enjoyable atmosphere. Prof. Dr. Aliresa Noorpoor from Tehran University, Donar’s General Manager, Pars’ Trade Manager, andrepresentatives from Tacnogas and Himalia came together with the delegation at the dinner.

BEYSAD Chairman Mr. Ş. Burak Özaydemirin his assessment regarding the delegation said: “In order to benefit from the opportunities given by our neighbor Iran for the white goods suppliers industry, we participated in the 16^th International Exhibition of Household Appliances Fair in Iran with our members under the TET umbrella as a part of our URGE project. Before the fair, we had the chance to visit the production facilities of Iran’s leading white goods companies.

Our visit provided us with the opportunity to observe the depth of the Iranian market and the diversity of its producers. We think that the Iranian market will rapidly develop and therefore, it is important for Turkish producers to closely follow it. As the disorderly and low-volume producer structure in the industry improves and the market develops, consolidation and the emergence of producers who can also be foreign investors might be expected. The weight of domestic component supplies may be directed towards seeking global standards, as the market develops. We would like to thank TET authorities who made a great contribution in realizing our participation and all our members who participated in this event.”

TET Board Member Mr. Atilla Erensaid on the subject: “Participating in the Iranian White Goods Fair as the URGE team has been very beneficial in terms of seeing the potential in the sector as well as improving our relations. There are many local white goods producers from all over the country. However, since the production is limited to the domestic market, the production volume is very low. We have seen that the fair culture is established in Iran. The fair was crowded with participants and visitors and hosts various fairs that address to various sectors within the year. This market that does not include international actors is open to development regarding products and production technologies. In this regard, I believe that Turkey being Europe’s white goods production center will become an important actor in this market with its main and suppliers industries in a short time.

TET Supervisory Board Member Mr. Besim Oktayerwho participated in the event said:”The event was on point and beneficial for getting to know Iran and the Iranian white goods industry. With this trip, we had the chance to look into this closed economy that is growing. We observed that there is a surprisingly high number of small-size, even regional producers within the same sector. We witnessed their desire to produce in high amounts and localize their imports. Although the quality of their products is much lower than the global standards, the diversity of their production is surprisingly high. They can produce almost everything they need locally and preferably in their factory, even though in a very small scale. Naturally, the production is ineffective and the organization is below how it should be. In general, all the companies we met are positively affected by the expectation of growth of Iran currently. They are all making new investments. Our luck in this market would be selling them our high-quality products that Iran needs for very competitive prices. Our companies may also consider investing in the growing Iranian market. I saw that the public and the industrialists I met were very positive about Turkey and Turkish products. I think that this participation in the fair was on point and we should have more of such participations and I would like to thank all my colleagues who worked in the event and especially TET and BEYSAD employees.”

We as BEYSAD say that the Iran Delegation was overall highly fruitful; therefore, we would like to thank TET (Turkish Electrical Electronics and Services Exporters Association) authorities and employees, our shareholder on the TURKHAS-2 URGE Project as well as our esteemed members for taking part in this.

Participant companies; Alpplas Endüstriyel, Atasan Metal, ATM Beyaz Eşya, Başoğlu Kablo, Boyplast Boya, De-Ka Elektroteknik, Erta Elektromekanik, Esalba Metal, Gençler Kablo, Kabel Kablo, Karel Elektronik, Punteks Tekstil, San Metal, Technocast…