Turkey, the largest exporter of boron has exported $520mn in 2008 against their target of $500mn for the year. Turkey has 72 percent of the world’s boron reserves that is estimated at 4 billion tons. The annual global consumption of boron is about 4 million tons and Turkey aims to position the country as the global capital of boron. This chemical element is mainly used in the production of detergents, glass and ceramics.
Turkey was able to achieve its annual target in spite of the EU calling boron as toxic chemical. Orhan Yilmaz, the Director General of Eti Mine Works, the country’s boron processor, said that Turkey increased its boron exports although it was a tough year due to global economic crisis.
It should be recalled, in November, the EU classified boron as a toxic substance, fading the dreams of making Turkey the global hub for boron. Though Turkey have appealed to the WTO to look into the matter, if the EU does not reverse the decision, it will be hard for Turkey to achieve the export target set for 2009. The country exports around $150mn of boron to the EU member states alone, which almost constitutes a quarter of the yearly exports. Turkey’s total boron exports in 2007 stood at $405mn. Yilmaz said the export target for 2009 was set at $650mn, and is projected to reach $1bn by 2012.
Nonetheless, Turkey will not be alone at the WTO against the EU’s decision, they are likely to be accompanied by the US, Malaysia, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Japan and China. Turkey is disgusted by the EU’s decision for arriving at a conclusion without undertaking proper scientific study. The EU’s toxic branding of boron, which was based on experiments conducted on mice has been widely criticized by Turkey because humans neither consumed nor directly injected it into their bodies, and the experiments were done in a similar manner in the mice. Anyway, once it gets legislated by the EU states, Turkey may struggle to maintain the growth for this year.