“Alcomet” AD will start producing automotive spare parts as well as accumulators after the Shumen-based company signed a 10-year contract to be a direct supplier to one of the leading German automotive companies. “This is an important moment for “Alcomet” AD – said the head of the board of directors Fikret Ince during a press conference – “with this new partnership we’re moving up into a higher league!” According to the contract, he was not allowed to share the name of the automotive company. But he added that in summer, the production of parts will commence and in 2022 they will be mass produced. ”We’ll be making very special parts – said Fikret Ince and added that the German company was the one to contact Alcomet AD. “That’s because of the specific qualities of the equipment that we’ve procured”- said Mr. Ince. The expansion of production will lead to 50 new job opportunities for highly-qualified personnel, who will work with computer-controlled machines. Right now, the construction work of the building that’s supposed to house the new 2500-tonnes press SMS HybrEx for aluminium profiles ais ongoing.
The covid-19 pandemic has slowed down the start of the cold-rolling mills, but with the easing of the counter-pandemic measures this will happen within a month. In Alcomet AD we haven’t stopped production despite the negative impact of the pandemic – said Fikret Ince. – We all took precautions, and the health and wellbeing of our workers and staff is our top priority. Right now we have 1100 workers, but we haven’t reduced their working hours and some were allowed to work from home. We haven’t requested government aid according to the plan 60/40, as we think that it’s better to allow the state to sponsor the small and medium enterprises. In Europe all economies are contracting, millions of people were left jobless and I’m sure that there will be a drop in demand. For us we have three possible scenarios for the pandemic: an optimistic, a normal and a pessimistic scenario. “Alcomet” is fortunate that it produces goods for the food industry – in this sector the demand hasn’t dropped. We’re working for the automotive industry, machine manufacturing and construction industry. We have serious orders for export to the USA. We want to sell in the states what we sell less of in Europe. We strive to diversify and our goal is the USA market. Until recently, their main importer was China, but after the introduction of tariffs, it allowed us to fill the gap. This is an opportunity for us and we’re trying to make the best of it. The volumes of our sales in the USA are growing.
The executive director of the Bulgarian-Turkish Chamber of Commerce Ventzitslav Venkov said that the chairman of BTCOC Fikret Ince had signed a memorandum for partnership between BTCOC and the Union of the Turkish chambers of commerce and stock markets to create a Bulgarian-Turkish forum of the chambers of commerce. The union consists of 365 local chambers of commerce and stock markets with 1,5 million member companies – said Mr. Venkov. That way, the members of our chamber of commerce, which consists of around 150 companies, can reach an enormous market and make direct contact with partners in Turkey.
The Bulgarian-Turkish Chamber of Commerce is part of the charity campaign to help the consulate of the republic of Turkey support the handicapped and sick people, as well as war veterans, as the pandemic remains a threat. During the charity 200,000 bgn as well as 500 packages of food were given out. The most recent donation was to the scouts of Shumen. “A lot of our members became part of the campaign – shared Fikret Ince. They were happy to donate and that makes me very proud!”
