International supply chain Li&Fung opened its central office in Istanbul.

Victor Fung, Managing Director of Li&Fung Group, asserted that they have considered London and Hamburg as their center before deciding on Istanbul and said: "It was an easy decision. While London and Hamburg are capitals of the past, Istanbul is the capital of the future."

Emphasizing that they have made a long-term investment on the Turkish market, Fung said that they want to penetrate into other markets together with Turkish suppliers.

Victor Fung said: "You can commercialize your products in international markets in a more competitive way by taking advantage of us."

$ 1 Million worth of business volume centered in Istanbul in 2010

Answering the reporters' questions after his speech, Victor Fung said that they have made $700 million of exportation from Turkey and total exportation of the headquarters controlling South Mediterranean and Europe reached $1 billion.

Emphasizing that Li&Fung's total global exportation volume is around $15 billion, Fung said: "Our Istanbul-centered operations in 2010 will create  $1 billion worth of business volume. $700 million of which is from Turkey. Our firm achieves a 20% growth per year. This  is the minimum we expect from the Turkish  office."

Expressing that they already opened offices in İzmir and Denizli, where the textile sector is flourished, Fung said that although textile and ready-to-wear sectors are heavily centered around İstanbul, he found out during his contacts in Ankara that important inducements are given for investments in Anatolia. Fung said that they will first take into account the location of new factories before deciding  the location of their new offices.

Turkey might be the new Italy

Fung said that although one of the two ways to develop textile sector is to shift the manufacture to cheaper destinations, they have envisaged a development that oriented towards value-added products. He added: "Both in fabric and product development, Turkey can replace Italy. And from my point of view, Turkey can rise as the new Italy."

Emphasizing that it is possible to balance the increasing labor force costs with better and higher quality products, Fung said that these ideas derived from Hong Kong example where they have turned towards cheaper countries for production while focusing more on fashion at the same time and therefore protected their position through reconciling the two strategies.

Fung asserted that this double strategy is applicable for ready to wear sector that is centered around Istanbul.

"We'll contribute to Textile and Confection Sectors"

Victor Fung, Chairman of Li&Fung Group and Chairman of International Chamber of Commerce, pointed out that Turkey is an important center in international supply chain.

According to Victor Fung, Turkey's advantages are rich raw material sources, closeness to Russia, Europe and former Soviet Union countries, developed logistics and educated labor force.

Emphasizing that they have initiated a long-term investment in Turkey, Fung said that they can contribute to textile and apparel sectors in Turkey.

15 thousands of suppliers and 2 thousands of costumers

According to the information released in the meeting, Germany, England and France are the top three customers of Istanbul base of Li&Fung Group, which heavily focuses on European countries.

 $20 million of business volume is created in Turkey for customers including Mudo, Collezione and Seven Hill.

Li&Fung employs over 14 thousands employees in more than 80 offices. With a sales network consisting of over 40 economies and 15 thousands of suppliers, Li&Fung provides services for about 2 thousands of customers.

Source: www.milliyet.com