Gür Mermer exports 90 percent of its production

Gür Mermer processes Burdur beige marble from Burdur region which has become a global brand and exports, directly or indirectly 90 percent of its production. The company’s biggest export markets are countries in the Middle East, Africa and America and the company continues to look for new markets. Ali Gür, one of the founders of Gür Mermer explained that they have been in the marble industry for over 20 years and employed 60 people in their state of the art plant.

Ali Gür told that the company operates in ready mixed concrete and marble industries and sells ready mixed concrete products to the entire Burdur province. Gür told that the company employs 80 people in their ready mixed concrete plant and stone quarries and added, “We process Burdur beige marble which is a global marble brand. We bring marble blocks extracted from our quarry to our plant and process according to individual project needs and then export”.

Gür told that the company mostly exports to countries in Middle East, Africa and America and emphasized that 90 percent of the company’s production are either directly exported or indirectly exported through other companies . Gür explained that they have been in the marble industry for over 20 years and the plant has state of technology thanks to the investments made in recent years. Gür told that the company has 60 employees in its marble division.

Ali Gür told about the difficulties in the marble industry detailing the difficult processes from extracting marble blocks from mountains, bringing down to factories to processing, cutting to order and transporting to ports and added “Searching and finding marble, obtaining licenses, building roads, infrastructure and general operating costs are very cost and labour intensive. When input prices are high, our costs are also high. And this has a negative impact on our competitiveness in global markets. We are looking for new markets in target countries identified by the Ministry of Finance in order to survive.” Gür commented that less bureaucracy and faster permit processes for marble quarries would encourage investors and the industry which has a big role in the country’s export figures should be given special subsidies or other incentives to meet their fuel and electricity needs.