Tobacco Asia

tobaccoasia 55 • Double your resource value • Use 100% expanded fine- cut for MYO and RYO • Untouchable product quality • Impex – pressure/vacuum technology • DIET - Dry Ice Expansion Technology AircoDIET has supplied more than 55 DIET plants worldwide, many of which have been turn-key. We continuously develop and refine the DIET process and our DIET plants have above 95% uptime with a dry yield better than 98.5% through the plant. www.aircodiet.com Over 100% tobacco expansion Sayin. "We have also shipped a recon line to Bondowoso, which is expected to be up and running within this year to provide reconstituted tobacco for Indonesia." The next step in creating the group of companies today known as Star Corporation was taken with the founding of Tobacco Solutions Asia Limited (TSAL) in 2013. Ac- cording to Sayin, the outfit supplies non-tobacco materials (NTMs) such as cigarette papers, filters, tow, adhesives, and packaging, as well as both new and second-hand, refurbished machinery to customers in all corners of the world. "In addition, we also provide engineering and consulting services and technical expertise to the tobacco industry," says Sayin. "And with our 'World-of-Mini' project we are proudly offering small-scale production lines that are affordable for small to medium companies, assist- ing them in setting up their own factories and businesses. In the long run, our plan is to build more opportunities for more clients in every corner of the world." A slew of subsidiaries Star Corporation's operational headquarters located in Istanbul, its financial headquar- ters is in Singapore. Besides already mentioned STI, FELI, and TSAL, the group has now grown to encompass quite a number of additional subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Belgium, Malta, South Africa, and Brazil, lending it a truly global presence. Meanwhile, subsidiaries in Russia and Ukraine are presently under formation. Only a mere decade after its foundation, Star Corporation, together with its wide range of sister companies, is actively working with 75 clients in more than 45 countries. The year 2018 not only marked the 10th anniversary of the founding of STI, but it also brought about important changes in the company structure per se, as well as the group's business scope overall. Effective May 1, 2018, Star Tobacco International has been rebranded into Star Agritech International (SAI). That rebranding was not an easy off-the-cuff decision but more or less became necessary due to developments on the fi- nancial level. "Frankly, we didn't have much choice. It was a painful decision. After all, STI had always been a tobacco company," says group logistics manager, Rustu Calik, adding that it was "pressure from financial institutions" that was the root cause for the rebranding. "We had letters of credit opened by Chinese clients for tobacco, which the banks refused to honor," Calik explains without delving into deeper details. So, after much contemplation the company settled to drop "Tobacco" from its name, replacing it with "Agritech" and effectively becoming Star Agritech International. Expanded product portfolio But that name change also opened the door for expanding the product portfolio by allowing the firm to diversify from tobacco into multiple other agricultural commodi- ties. "We asked ourselves how [we could] increase our portfolio while continuing to use our current [company] structure," Dr. Lambat vividly remembers the board room discussions. "For instance, since we already maintain a representative office in Ar- Dr. Iqbal Lambat, Star Corporation's c.e.o. and company president (Star Corporation) (Star Corporation)

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