Trade Minister Bolat: We are expecting good news next week.

Trade Minister Ömer Bolat stated, "We will make the Century of Turkey the Century of Trade and continue to increase our share in global trade in both goods and services exports." He announced that they are expecting good news regarding labor-intensive sectors such as textiles, clothing, leather, shoes, and furniture.

The "MESİAD 30th Anniversary Merter's Value Contributors Award Ceremony," organized for the first time this year by the Merter Industrialists and Business People Association (MESİAD), was held with the participation of Trade Minister Ömer Bolat. In his speech at the ceremony, Minister Bolat noted that he has been in office for 16 months and emphasized the importance of being on the ground during this period, consulting with all relevant organizations in the economy, industry, and trade, listening, and maintaining constant communication. Bolat mentioned that he visited LASİAD and OTİAD and talked about witnessing the development of the textile market in Merter, Güngören, Osmanbey, and Laleli.

"THE TEXTILE MARKET HAS SHRUNK"

Bolat expressed that the textile and apparel sectors have been experiencing a painful period due to a global market contraction for more than a year, stating, "During this painful period, we maintained very close communication to explain what we, as the government and the Ministry of Trade, have done for the sector, listen to you, and resolve the issues that can be solved in the short term. We rushed to your fairs, came, and inaugurated them." Bolat emphasized that the textile and apparel sector is the mother of industries and sectors, stating, "This sector has been in our country since the last 40-50 years of the Ottoman Empire. As a cotton-producing country, it started with ginning and later integrated facilities and factories were established in yarn production from the 1950s and in fabric production from the 1960s, with large sectors established in the İzmir region and around Adana due to the beautiful cotton of the Aegean and Çukurova." He conveyed that the Istanbul market is the center of fashion and consumption, reminding that products produced in Anatolia are offered for sale in Sultanhamam.

"ISTANBUL IS THE CENTER OF APPAREL"

Bolat explained that after 1980, with the incentives given to move established industries outside Istanbul, there was a spread to regions such as Çorum, Çerkezköy, Gebze, Kocaeli, Sakarya, and Bilecik. He mentioned that Kahramanmaraş, Adıyaman, Malatya, Adana, Gaziantep, and Denizli have rapidly grown, stating, "Turkey's significant leap in textiles began after 1983 during the late Özal period, based on an export-oriented growth model. These cities evaluated this process very well, and significant investments were made."

"WE HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO IN GLOBAL TEXTILE AND APPAREL TRADE"

Trade Minister Bolat stated that in the 1980s, when the textile sector was on the rise, it had a significant share in employment and accounted for almost two-thirds of exports, saying:

"Today, the textile and apparel sector constitutes 13% of our exports with a share of 33 billion dollars. It ranks among the top three along with the automotive, chemical, and energy sectors. In the 875 billion dollar global textile and apparel trade, we have a long way to go. We took this sector from Germany, France, and Italy. They were the centers of textile and fashion in the world. They continue as fashion centers. However, as a production and export base, Turkey made a significant leap after 1980, and our success in textiles has instilled confidence in other sectors. Today, we have reached a position where we have 262 billion dollars in goods and 110 billion dollars in export revenue across many sectors, from steel to automotive and from chemicals to machinery manufacturing."

"WE WILL GO ON THE OFFENSIVE AGAIN"

Bolat explained that there have been significant attacks and contractions from time to time, stating, "There have been contractions in the past due to internal reasons. However, the direction has always been an upward trend. Therefore, in the last year, there may be a slowdown in sales due to the significant contraction in global demand and especially the inflation-fighting policies in the world and Turkey, leading to a slowdown in domestic demand. But I have always said at the opening of fairs, these are temporary conjunctures, fluctuations, and believe me, in the not-so-distant future, we will go on the offensive again."

"LET'S NOT LOSE OUR SPIRITS"

Bolat stated that a new world war is being experienced between the West and Russia, saying: "Russia was a very important market for us. We learned about suitcase tourism in the Russian market after 1990. The Osmanbey, Merter, and Laleli markets made a significant leap with suitcase tourism. But when the Russians banned suitcase tourism in 1998, there was chaos. There were always words like 'Oh no, we are finished, we are doomed.' What happened? In 1-2 years, everyone began to adapt to the new conditions. There was no other choice. They incorporated, started normal exports, and stepped back from cargo exports. They began to benefit from the government's export incentives. Such fluctuations occur. In the past, during periods when economic crises were common, significant economic crises occurred every 2-3 years in the 90s, such as the crises of 1994, 1998, and 2001. Therefore, dear friends, let’s not lose our spirits, let’s keep our heads high, and let’s always be in search of how we can increase our sales and find new markets. We, as the Ministry of Trade, will always continue to stand by you."

"THE LOCOMOTIVE OF GROWTH HAS BEEN NET EXPORT CONTRIBUTION"

Minister Bolat stated that while the world grows at an average of 3.8%, it has been in a contraction of about 3.2% in the last three years, especially in 2023 and 2024, saying, "This means limited growth. The growth rates of our markets, the USA and the EU, are lower. They are in such a serious recession that both the USA and the EU have started to lower interest rates. Central banks began to cut interest rates in September. In the near future, when interest rates become more favorable in a few months, you will all see that global demand is increasing, and sales in your businesses are rising."

He stated, "

"NATIONAL INCOME SET A RECORD"

Noting that Turkey closed the last year with a growth of 5.1%, Bolat said that the national income exceeded 1 trillion dollars for the first time, reaching 1 trillion 118 billion dollars. Bolat stated, "In the first 6 months of this year, our growth rate is 3.8%, and our national income has reached 1 trillion 250 billion dollars. Our per capita national income was 13 thousand 243 dollars last year, and by the end of this year, we will see it exceed 14 thousand dollars and approach 15 thousand, hopefully. The locomotive of this growth has been the contribution of net exports. 1.4 points of the 3.8% real growth came from the contribution of net exports."

"EXPORTS INCREASED, IMPORTS DECREASED"

Recalling that they announced export data the other day, Bolat said, "2024 will be a tough year. Global demand is very sluggish, there is a war to our north, there is genocide in Israel, and there are tensions in trade channels. The Suez Canal is occasionally blocked. Now, the eastern ports of America have gone on strike. Despite all this, our exporters are heroically and selflessly working hard. We are also providing this support to them. In the first 9 months of 2024, we increased our goods exports by 3.2%, reaching 193 billion dollars." He noted that imports decreased by 8% to 253 billion dollars, and continued: "There is a decrease of 21.5 billion dollars in imports, while there is an increase of 6 billion dollars in exports in the first 9 months, resulting in a total decrease of 27.5 billion dollars in our foreign trade deficit. What does this mean? The issue of foreign currency is being resolved. We no longer have a problem of foreign currency adequacy. By reducing our foreign trade deficit and current account deficit to very reasonable levels, especially excluding gold and energy, there has been a significant decrease in our foreign trade deficit, which increases the contribution of exports to growth. Exporting means producing, which means an increase in employment and investments, all of which are positive developments for Turkey. While we had a foreign trade deficit of nearly 88 billion dollars in the first 9 months last year, this year we managed to stay at 60 billion dollars. We have a savings of 27.5-28 billion dollars. This means an increase in Turkey's foreign currency reserves. Our gross foreign currency reserves increased from 98.5 billion dollars to 157.5 billion dollars. Our net foreign currency reserves rose from minus 60.5 billion dollars to plus 30 billion dollars, showing an improvement of 90 billion dollars excluding swaps. In this context, the ratio of exports to cover imports increased from 68% last year to 76.3% this year. These are positive developments on the foreign trade front."

"WE ARE IMPLEMENTING A VERY IMPORTANT PROGRAM FOR ADAPTATION TO GREEN ECONOMY"

Trade Minister Bolat mentioned that there was 573 billion dollars of ready-to-wear exports worldwide in 2023, stating, "There is also approximately 286 billion dollars of textile exports. China is in the first place. Especially in the ready-to-wear sector, there is a decrease of 2-2.5 billion dollars compared to 2022, and one of the main reasons for this is that with the end of the pandemic and the reduction of quarantines, there has been a tremendous demand explosion in developed Western markets that has reached saturation. Along with the economic stagnation and high inflation process, there is a serious stagnation in demand there. Additionally, in textiles, especially in clothing, efforts to adapt to the green economy are becoming more effective. This situation has reduced the demand for new final products and has made competition in production and sales in the market more challenging, bringing along adaptation pains." He stated that they are implementing a very important program for adaptation to the green economy as a ministry and government, saying, "We are also assisting the textile and clothing sector in this regard. Under the name of adaptation to the green economy and trade, we have launched an export support program called responsible. We have initiated a grant support program of 10 million lira for those who start a green economy adaptation program per company. In this regard, we will also provide advantageous credit opportunities with Eximbank loans and TÜBİTAK loans from the Ministry of Industry and Technology for firms that are making progress in green economy adaptation efforts."

"GERMANY IS OUR LARGEST FOREIGN PARTNER IN TEXTILES AND CLOTHING"

Noting that Germany is Turkey's largest foreign trade partner in textiles and clothing, Bolat reminded that Germany is also the first market in textiles and clothing. He stated that the decline in Germany's imports has decreased cumulatively by 25% compared to 2022, and added: "As long as humanity exists, issues such as food, clothing, and shelter will continue until the end of time. Therefore, do not pay attention to those who write doomsday scenarios related to the textile sector. We are closely monitoring the issue of concordat. Our Minister of Justice announced the official data last week. While the number of concordat applications may have increased, the number of decisions made by the courts regarding concordat is 44. As the government and the Ministry of Trade, we allocate 60% of the ministry's budget to exporters. We had a budget of 21 billion lira for goods and services exports. There is a high demand, and we are working to find more resources to exceed this budget."

"WE EXPECT A NEW GOOD NEWS NEXT WEEK"

Stating that the daily limit of export rediscount credit in Eximbank and commercial banks has been increased tenfold to 3 billion lira, Bolat said, "We expect new good news next week, and we are working together with our Ministry of Treasury and Finance and our Central Bank. The current cost of these is 25.93%, and we are also making efforts to reduce it. The increased rediscount credit limit will hopefully prioritize labor-intensive sectors such as textiles, clothing, leather, footwear, and furniture." He explained the support provided, saying, "Our efforts to declare the IFCO and Texhibition fairs, which are progressing towards becoming international fairs, as prestigious fairs will soon come to fruition, and our support limit for those fairs will increase to 70%. Thus, participation and visitors will also increase as international fairs." Bolat continued his remarks: "Together, we will carry Turkey to better tomorrows. We will make the Century of Turkey the Century of Trade and continue to increase our share in global trade in both goods and services exports. We are not working in a thornless rose garden; just look around you at the geography and the fire ring we are in, and we are striving to navigate your ship safely through deep waters and reach the ports safely."