Turkey’s first domestic dental implants on their way

TUĞBA YARDIMCI MISIR

TRABZON – Anatolia News Agency

Turkey’s AGS Medikal Ürünleri, a medical company, is preparing to produce dental implants in the Black Sea province of Trabzon, as the company invested 5 million Turkish Liras in the business as a startup.

The construction work for the production facility in an industrial zone in Beşikdüzü town in Trabzon was launched in April, said Görkem Serçe, the general director of the company.

“Turkey is dependent on foreign countries for dental implants and we aim to save the country from this condition,” Serçe told the Anatolia news agency.

The test production for “implast,” the first domestic implant, has started and the product will be on the market by October, he said.

Turkey is to become the eighth implant producer country across the world. The other counties are Germany, Switzerland, the U.S., Italy, South Korea, Israel and France.

The initial aim is to reduce the number of important implants and the company wants to become en exporter in the long term, the general director said.

“We plan to export goods to neighboring countries. Initial targets are Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq and Bulgaria. Besides, we have business ties with Italy. We will launch exports in the fall.”

Annual implant consumption in Turkey is around 200,000. “This figure is 3.5 million in Japan, 2 million in Spain, 1.5 million in Germany and 1 million in Italy,” Serçe said.

The domestic companies in South Korea dominate the market with a 70 percent share, he added. “A similar thing will happen in Turkey,” he said, telling that local production is to increase local consumption up to 1 million a year.

The investment size is to grow constantly, according to Serçe. The final goal of AGS is to hit 15 million liras.

As the production of implants was high technology-based, the number of employees would be few, he said. Still, the business is to start with a staff of 25 and to reach 50 as the further investments are realized.

via Turkey’s first domestic dental implants on their way – Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review.