İsmail Gülle, President of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), gave information on the provisional foreign trade data for August. Stating that August exports started at a low level in the first 10 days due to the prolonged holiday effect that coincided with the end of July, Gülle said that this situation recovered later.
Looking at the last 20 days of the month, Gülle pointed out that the daily export figures in the pre-pandemic period were caught, and said the following:
“On Monday, the last day of the month, we reached 650 million dollars of daily exports, and we started September in a very positive way. In August, 8 of our sectors reached the highest export figures in their history, and 17 of our 27 sectors increased. In some countries in Europe, we see that the figures, which had decreased in the figures we announced earlier, are slowly recovering.
After the pandemic, we said that especially the supply chain would be affected in the world. The ready-to-wear sector, which received positive returns from this, became the first sector this month, the automotive sector became the second, and our chemical sector became the third. It is important that the ready-to-wear sector has reached significant figures with such intense orders. We think that this intensity will also be very intense in September. The months of September, October and November are a period when our exports and all economies are slowly moving. In a period when the whole world is affected in one way or another, we are overcoming these days by diversifying our exports and focusing on market diversity.”
Pointing out that there was a serious loss of performance at the beginning of August, Gülle said that the process recovered afterwards.
Regarding the rest of the year, İsmail Gülle said, “When we look at our exports for the last 12 months, we have an 8 percent decrease. When we look at the year-end export figure, we aim to close this 8 percent and catch last year’s exports. Our goal is primarily to catch last year’s export figure, so we did not revise the target. We are in a position to catch it in 4 months.”
“Our exports are positive compared to most countries”
Gülle reminded that in the first two quarters of 2020, the Turkish economy achieved growth above expectations.
Gülle pointed out that the second quarter data, in which the impact of the pandemic is gradually increasing, shows that Turkey is performing positively compared to many countries, and noted the following:
“In the second quarter of this year, the USA contracted by 31.7 percent, the United Kingdom by 22.8 percent, Spain by 22.2 percent, France by 19.2 percent, and European Union countries contracted by 14.1 percent on average. In the same period, our country’s economy performed above expectations, shrinking by 9.9 percent. All these data reveal the success of our country’s growth model based on production and exports. From the perspective of global trade, Turkey’s exports have followed a favorable course compared to most countries.
When we analyze the exports of countries in the first seven months of the year, we see that Norway’s exports fell by 24 percent, India’s by 22 percent and Japan’s by 16 percent. We are emerging from the pandemic storm that is sweeping the whole world in waves, step by step, getting stronger. Because we believe that “The future is bright, the future is export!” Turkey will continue to be a pioneer in exports and growth in the new period with its strong investment, production and export infrastructure.
“The first virtual trade delegation for women exporters on September 21”
TIM President Gülle pointed out that 2020 was a year in which business moved to virtual channels with the effect of the pandemic, and continued his words as follows:
“We adapted to the new normal quite quickly. We have successfully completed the Virtual Trade delegations we organized with the coordination of our Ministry in 8 countries. In line with the demands from our exporters, we will further increase the number of our virtual trade delegations in the coming period. This month, we added new ones to the virtual trade delegations we organized with the coordination of our Ministry of Trade. With the participation of many sector representatives, exporters signed new collaborations in Germany and Colombia & Mexico markets.
Our Virtual Trade Delegations will not be limited to these countries, and as TIM, we will continue our ‘New Generation Trade Diplomacy’ activities in target markets with 95 thousand members of the export family. With the participation of our Women’s Council, we will break another ground as TIM. Between September 21 and October 2, we will organize the Chile, Peru, Colombia, Mexico Virtual General Trade Delegation, which is the first virtual trade delegation for women exporters and open to the participation of all sectors. With this delegation, we aim to further increase the number of women exporters and increase their export volumes.”
“8 sectors reached the highest August exports in their history”
Stating the increases experienced on a sectoral basis, Gülle said, “The leader of August was the ready-to-wear sector with exports of 1 billion 546 million dollars, while the automotive sector came second with exports of 1 billion 545 million dollars and chemicals came third with exports of 1 billion 375 million dollars. The strongest performers of August were hazelnut and its products, which reached 92.8 million dollars in exports with an increase of 39.3 percent, tobacco, which reached 71.3 million dollars with an increase of 36.1 percent, and fresh fruit and vegetable sectors, which reached 130.2 million dollars with an increase of 18.6 percent.”
Giving information about the details, Gülle said the following:
“The fresh fruit and vegetable, cereals and fruit and vegetable products sectors showed the best 8-month performance in their history despite the pandemic. Compared to the same period of 2019, the Fresh Fruit and Vegetables sector exported 1.5 billion dollars with an increase of 23.8 percent, the Cereals sector exported 4.6 billion dollars with an increase of 7.8 percent and the Fruit and Vegetable Products sector exported 1 billion dollars with an increase of 5.3 percent.
In addition, cement glass, ceramics and earth products, carpet, cereals, pulses, oil seeds and products, fruit and vegetable products, furniture, paper and forestry products, defense and aerospace industry, ornamental plants and products, and fresh fruits and vegetables sectors reached the highest August export figures in their history.”
“Exports to 85 countries increased by 516 million dollars”
Stating that Turkey managed to increase its exports to 85 countries by 516 million dollars in August despite the negative picture in global trade, Gülle reported that the increase in 51 of these 85 countries was realized above 10 percent and 22 of these 85 countries were realized above 50 percent.
Gülle said, “Among these countries, the USA with an export increase of 64.2 million dollars compared to August last year, Belgium with an export increase of 59.3 million dollars and Israel with an export increase of 35.7 million dollars drew attention.”
“Exports of respiratory devices increased by 4 thousand 97 percent”
Stating that exports of Covid-19 products did not slow down in August, Gülle said:
“Compared to the same month last year, respirators increased by 4 thousand 97 percent, masks and gowns by 641 percent, diagnostic kits by 178 percent, and disinfectant exports by 47 percent. Total exports of medical products increased by 312 percent to 76 million dollars. In the first eight months of the year, total medical product exports reached 530 million dollars, with an increase of 208 percent compared to the first eight months of 2019.
In August, 1307 companies joined the export family. These companies, which have just started exporting, exported 110 million 19 thousand dollars in August. In terms of company-specific exports, a total of 37 thousand 475 companies exported in August. In August, exporters managed to fly the flag of our country in 207 countries. The top 3 countries with the highest exports were Germany with 1 billion 210 million dollars, the UK with 989.2 million dollars and the USA with 739.6 million dollars. While the share of the first 10 countries in exports was 50 percent, this share increased to 67.3 percent in the first 20 countries. Every sector managed to export to 14 countries, including the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands. The share of the European Union, the largest market, in exports fell to 41.3 percent with a volume of 5.15 billion dollars.”
“The most remarkable increase was seen in Kastamonu”
TİM President Gülle pointed out that 51 provinces increased their exports in August.
Stating that the top 3 provinces with the highest exports were Istanbul with 5 billion 158 million dollars, Bursa with 863 million dollars and Kocaeli with 778 million dollars, Gülle said:
“The most remarkable increases were experienced in Kastamonu, which exported 21 million dollars with an increase of 514 percent, Adıyaman, which reached 12 million dollars with an increase of 132 percent, and Ordu, which exported 21 million dollars with an increase of 73 percent. While the Machinery sector increased its exports 14 times in Mardin, it was seen that the exports of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetables sector in Şırnak increased by 270 percent, and the exports of the Defense and Aviation sector in Konya increased by 263 percent.
During the month, a total of 3 billion 703 million TL worth of exports were realized to 171 countries. 6 thousand 114 companies preferred Turkish Lira in export transactions. In terms of quantity, exports decreased by 0.2 percent in August compared to the same month of the previous year and amounted to 11.7 million tons. Finally, the positive effect of the euro-dollar parity in August was 331 million 848 thousand dollars.”
Source: https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/ekonomi/tim-baskani-gulle-pandemi-oncesi-donemdeki-gunluk-ihracat-rakamlarini-yakaladik/1960695
