Şişecam CEO Görkem Elverici shared Sisecam’s growth journey in the field of soda ash at the conference, which took place in Athens, Greece on October 10-12.
Görkem Elverici stated that Şişecam started soda ash production in Türkiye in 1969: “Our presence in the soda ash market was expanded by our investments in Bulgaria in 1997 and Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2006. Sisecam took its soda ash operations to a whole new level with its investments in the USA, which was started in 2019 and expanded in 2021. As a result of these investments, Sisecam is now one of the top two soda ash producers of the world.”
Görkem Elverici indicated that Sisecam’s soda ash investments in the USA are the most important step towards its vision of serving the entire soda ash market globally: “Our US soda ash investments have strengthened Şişecam’s presence in the global market and increased our flexibility. Our production operations in four countries have also reduced Sisecam’s geographic risks, which is one of the biggest problems in today's world. As the largest vertically integrated player operating in all core areas of glass and chemicals production, Şişecam is present in the market both as a producer and a customer. This unique position gives Şişecam the ability to predict market fluctuations and exercise superior control over supply-demand management. Currently, Sisecam stands as one of the world's two largest soda ash producers, with an impressive annual production capacity of 5 Million tons. Thanks to its natural soda ash investment in the USA, Şişecam is poised to become a world leader. With the US investment's phased completion scheduled for 2028, Sisecam will have a global soda ash production capacity of over 10 Million tons per year.”
Görkem Elverici also pointed out another key investment that will create a logistics infrastructure and enable Şişecam to achieve its natural soda ash export targets in the USA. “For the future logistics needs of our natural soda ash investment in the USA, Ciner Group and Sisecam Chemicals USA, -a wholly-owned subsidiary of Şişecam- has become a partner in Denmar US LLC, which will carry out the Stockton Port Management Project. In line with the phased completion of the US investment scheduled for 2028, Şişecam aims to start its
Stockton Port Management investment in 2027 with an annual capacity of 5 Million tons. At Sisecam, we are pursuing investments that will ensure our sustainable growth journey.”