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Points to Consider When Importing Natural Stone from Turkey

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Points to Consider When Importing Natural Stone from Turkey

Natural stone industry in TurkeyAnatolian (Minor Asia) soil has a rich blend of natural stones such as marble, travertine, limestone, onyx and basalt due to its geological structure. Based on a study Turkey offers a wide variety of over 250 types of marble, travertine and onyx which are processed in about 1500 small, medium and large size factories and 7500 workshops.

Turkish natural stone products which were produced in 2-3 cm sizes at the beginning of 2000s are now being made available in the global stone markets, as tiles, mosaics, borders, slabs and mouldings.

Although Turkish Natural Stone producers are now in possession of a much more acceptable experience as compared to beginning of 2000s, many international buyers stand the risk of incurring major problems, in terms of getting reliable and professional services, in specific.

Based on a survey conducted by USAID (US AGENCY INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT) among companies which import travertine and marble from Turkey, the biggest problems experienced by such companies during these transactions, are reported to be as follows;

  • Fill Colors on travertine
    Packaging problems
    Producers inflexibility to produce various sizes
    Delay with delivery
    Organization difficulties with multiple products in a single order
    Communication problems with small producers, in specific
    Not abiding by standards and instructions

There is no doubt that when buyers manage to overcome or minimize these problems, obtaining a wide range of good quality products from Turkey, on time would offer them a competitive edge in the market. In order to realize this they need to attend to following points;

  • Visit companies you intend to work with in prior to placing orders, to check topics such as capacity, quality and service right on the spot.
    Instead of starting with big orders, prefer to place small trial orders to ensure quality, service and delivery capabilities of the supplier
    Make sure items to be shipped are inspected by professionals prior to shipment
    Consider working with trading companies in projects covering various items where consistency in quality and communication is of priority.

ALPER OZULOGUL
Turkish Natural Stone Expert

alper_expertWho is ALPER OZULOGUL

Mr. Ozulogul graduated from the faculty of Geology (Istanbul Technical University) in 1990.

He got his master degree in Turkish Marbles. Simulataneously, he worked as a researcher in the Marble Inventory Project of Turkey at university in 1992-94 where he had the opportunity of exploring Turkish Natural Stone

He worked many Turkish Stone firms among which there were some joint venture companies with foreign partners.

He has personally paid many visits to the majority of the quarries and marble and travertine factories in Turkey to examine them on the spot and has thus gathered broad knowledge and experience about Turkish Stones.

Mr. Ozulogul also possesses very close and good relations to majority quarry & factory owners in Turkey and has a very good reputation in the sector as a reliable stone expert.

He lives in Izmir and currently works at Stoneline Company as consultant.

He is available at below address;

alper@stone-line.com
aozulogul@hotmail.com

TEL +90 232 486 88 14
GSM + 90 532 5837404

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