AKSA to resume production after fire
31 Ocak 2013 Perşembe 11:40
By Metin Demirsar
Istanbul (Dunya) – Aksa Akrilik Kimya Sanayi, the world’s largest producer
of acrylic tow, fiber and tops and a big producer of carbon fiber, will resume
output this week after a fire swept through its main warehouse at its Yalova
factory last Wednesday, company officials said.
Fire fighters were called in from nearby towns and cities to extinguish the
eight-hour blaze that destroyed finished products and threatened to spread to
nearby production units at the site, along the Sea of Marmara 180 km southeast
of Istanbul.
Plant managers said production would resume shortly at Aksa, a unit of the
Akkok Group, one of Turkey’s largest conglomerates.
Aksa began producing acrylic in 1971 with an annual capacity of 5,200 tons
and has grown more than 60-fold in four decades. Today, with an annual capacity
of 350,000 tons, it has a 72% share of the domestic market for acrylic fiber and
about a 14% global market share
Aksa’s products are used as raw materials of synthetic yarns and fabrics
and in the production of blankets and carpets, home furnishings, craft yarn,
sailcover cloths, wipe cloths, asbestos replacement and concrete and stucco
reinforcement.
In 2011, Aksa had a net income of $55.6 million on $977.9 million in sales.
It had exports of $354.3 million, selling to nearly 300 companies in more than
50 countries on five continents.
Although it is a publicly traded company, Aksa is 39.58 % owned by the
Akkök Group and the Dinçkök family, one of Turkey's leading textile
manufacturers. Emniyet Ticaret ve Sanayi A.S., an investment company owned by
the Lodrik family, has a 18.72 % stake in Aksa. Some 9.20% shares are held by
Oppenheimer Quest International Value Fund, while the remaining 32.5% shares of
the company are widely held and traded on the Istanbul Stock Exchange.
Aksa's Yalova plant was damaged during the cataclysmic earthquake that
struck northwest Turkey on August 17, 1999, causing a leak of toxic acrylonitile
from the plant to neighboring villages and farm areas, damaging crops and
causing chest diseases and cancer among 300 residents and at least one top
executive.
