Tolga Saylan, CEO of Erkunt Traktör, one of Turkey's leading manufacturers, stated that they have started to reap the fruits of their consistent investments in design, technology and R&D, and said, "We are crowning our successful sales chart in the domestic market with exports to 35 countries with our export brand ArmaTrac."
Reminding that they started exporting as Erkunt Tractor with the ArmaTrac brand in 2007, Saylan said, “We are currently exporting to countries such as England and Germany, which are the homeland of Tractor. In a way, we can say that we are selling cress to the producers. We are the market leader in Serbia. In 2018, we achieved a first in the sector and became the first tractor brand from Turkey to license it to be produced abroad. Erkunt's licensor, Giad, was established in Sudan and has become one of the largest production facilities in Africa. Thus, the doors of 19 COMESA countries were opened to Erkunt brand tractors. Erkunt Tractor exports 25% of its production to 35 countries in total. "In addition, we successfully carry out the production, sales and marketing activities of Hisarlar Agricultural Machinery, which has been serving Turkish agriculture for more than 38 years in agricultural equipment, which is a complementary product of the tractor, and maintains its position as a leading brand exporting to 36 countries," he said.
WE WILL FOCUS ON EXPORTS IN 2024
Noting that they predict that the domestic market will shrink in 2024 due to reasons such as inflation and cost increases, Tolga Saylan said, “In the tractor industry, a record was broken in 2023, the highest sales number of the last 50 years was reached and more than 77 thousand tractors were sold. We had no problem with demand last year. However, there was a decrease in tractor supply due to the spare parts shortage that started during the pandemic period and still continues to affect. Despite this, as Erkunt, we sold a total of around 6 thousand tractors domestically and abroad last year. We have entered a new era with the strict economic policies implemented after the second half of 2023. Due to high inflation, there were price increases in items such as personnel, materials and energy. Besides these; I think there will be a general contraction in the tractor sector in 2024 due to the difficulties farmers experience in accessing credit. We aim to focus more on exports this year with our international brand ArmaTrac. "We expect our tractor sales to be at the same levels as last year," he said.
5 MILLION LIRA INVESTMENT IN EURO 200 MOTOR
Underlining that, as Erkunt Traktör, they attach special importance to R&D, CEO Tolga Saylan continued his words as follows: “As Erkunt Traktör, we continue our R&D investments with the influence of the feedback we receive from farmers and field studies. We brought the domestic engine we have been dreaming of for years to the sector with the brand 'eCapra Engine'. Our new brand eCapra Engine is the final result of a project that we initiated and dreamed of for many years to produce our own engine and our own tractors with this engine. We took a revolutionary step for Türkiye, which is dependent on foreign sources of engines. Our new engine family, which will cover the entire product portfolio that we started production in our factory in Ankara, has a very flexible and adaptable design so that necessary changes can be made according to field needs and emission rules. Last year, we introduced our new products with Stage 3B emission with e Capra engine, a domestically produced engine brand, and the Fruiti Series with creeper gear to Aegean farmers. As a result of R&D studies, eCapra engine models with Stage 4 emissions will be introduced this year. Our new models with Stage 80 emissions in the 110 – 4 HP power range; Luxury includes the E and Grand Luxury Series. In April, we will inaugurate the new engine production line, which we have implemented with a total investment of 200 million TL. “We are proud to produce Euro 5 engines in Turkey in accordance with European norms.”