With the eruption of the global coronavirus pandemic, western companies in the packaging sector have increasingly begun opting for Turkish companies instead of those in East Asia, member of the board of Armasan Ambalaj Mustafa Mahmutoğlu said Thursday.

"We are facing high demand, we will start to invest in an additional facility," Mahmutoğlu said, speaking to Sabah daily.

Factories in Tekirdağ province’s Çerkezköy organized industrial site are currently working day and night to produce orders from abroad. Turkey is the second biggest packaging producer in Europe after Germany, Sabah reported, saying that Armasan is working at 80% capacity to fill orders from both within the country and abroad.

The company will start the next stage of investments within a month.

"Besides Europe, American buyers have also turned to Turkey. They say they will make their purchases from Turkey from now on instead of the Far East. Previously, the American market was a market we could not enter," Mahmutoğlu said.

Armasan, which had 35% of their sales coming from abroad last year, this year eyes 40% while Mahmutoğlu expects this number to reach 50% next year.