Market overview

The textile and clothing industry has a great contribution to the Turkish economy. The industry has been dubbed as the locomotive of the Turkish economy for years. Turkey’s textile and clothing exports continued to rise recently after they started to fall in January, with the removal of EU and US quotas.

The industrialization efforts of the 1960s and 1970s gave rise to the modern textile industry in Turkey. At first, this sector functioned as small workshops. But the sector showed rapid development and during the 1970s it began to export. Today, Turkey is one of the world’s leading producers and exporters of textiles and clothing.

Turkish textile and clothing manufacturers began to shift production to Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In the past three years, Turkish textile and clothing companies have faced increasing difficulties, after having enjoyed substantial success in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Chinese textile exports after a decades-old quota system ended on January 1, 2005 and the World Trade Organization believes that within three years the Asian giant could be producing more than half of the world’s textiles, compared to 17% in 2003.

The end of the quota regime has raised fears of widespread job losses around the world, including in Turkey, whose own exports of textiles and clothing are worth some $20 billion a year.

Therefore, it is necessary to understand the Turkish textile and clothing sector, the weakness and strength it has in the world market.

Current Scenario of Textiles and Garments in Turkey

The textile and garment sector has been the backbone of the Turkish economy and has played a vital role in the process of industrialization and market orientation of the economy in the last two decades. In the 1980s, it was the leading sector related to the global economy, and export earnings from this foreign exchange-generating sector contributed substantially to the overall economy. The textile sector continued to be one of the main contributors to the Turkish economy, being one of the fastest growing sectors in the 1990s with an average annual growth of 12.2%, while the Turkish economy had an average growth of 5.2% per year. Total investment in the sector exceeded US$150 billion, of which more than US$50 billion was invested in the last 5-10 years.

The textile industry started in the 1960s in small workshops, has developed rapidly and transformed Turkey into a global competitor.

The total number of companies in the sector, dominated (95%) by the private sector, is around 44,000 and 25% of them are active exporters. The clothing industry is made up mainly (80%) of small and medium-sized companies, while technology-intensive textile production has been carried out by large-scale companies. Today about 20% of the 500 largest companies in Turkey are involved in the textile and garment sector.

Low labor costs, a skilled workforce, relatively cheap raw materials have played an important role in the significant growth of the sector; as well as a liberalized economic environment and export-oriented policies in the last two decades.

The production value of the sector exceeds US$ 20 billion. It is estimated that employment in the sector is around 4 million people (2.5 million employed directly and another 1.5 million indirectly through the subsectors). Official statistics also reveal that around 500,000 employees in the sector due to unregistered labor.

The clothing sector exports approximately 60% of its production. Capacity utilization rates are around 75%, especially among exporting manufacturers.

Turkey is also among the world’s top ten producers of woolen fabrics, carpets, synthetic filaments and fibres, polyester and polyamide filaments. While Europe’s third largest polyester producer is a US-Turkish joint venture, Turkey’s synthetics production amounts to 15% of Western Europe’s capacity.

economic contribution

The textile and clothing industry has a great contribution to the Turkish economy. For example, the textile and clothing industry represents:

. 10% in GNP

. 40% in industrial production

. 30% manufacturing labor

. 35% of export earnings

The textile and clothing sector contributes more than 20 billion dollars to the Gross National Product. The sector is mainly important for its export earnings; its share in the country’s total exports has been between 33-39% since 1990.

The main export market for Turkish textile and clothing products are the EU countries, which account for around 65% of the total textile and clothing exports. Turkey ranks second in imports of clothing and textiles to the EU, with a share of 8.2% and 4.8% in the total imports of textiles and clothing to the EU, respectively, as of 2003.

Scenario export

Textile and clothing exports increased by 14.6% on average per year during 1980-2003. Especially until the second half of the 1990s, the sector’s exports increased at a rate higher than the increase in Turkey’s total exports, as well as the increase in world exports of textiles and clothing. In 2003, the sector’s exports totaled US$ 15.1 billion, with a share of 32.6% of the total exported. Exports increased to 23% in 2003, in value terms up to 2002. The growing share of clothing in exports since 1986 signifies the efforts to produce products with more added value.

After the EU, the US is a big and imminent market. Turkey is the 19th largest apparel supplier and the 9th largest textile supplier to the US with a share of 1.9% and 2.9% respectively. In addition to the EU and US market, the new markets are the North African countries, namely Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria; Middle Eastern countries, namely Syria, Israel and Saudi Arabia; Eastern European countries, namely Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary; and CIS countries. The sector faces quotas only in the US and Canada. The Russian Federation was also a large market for Turkey’s textile and clothing sector until the financial crisis of August 1998. It was the third largest market for clothing and the ninth largest market for textile products in 1997. Russia remains a promising market for the textile and clothing sectors. with its high consumption potential that will come to light in the following years, especially after the evolution towards a better integration in the world economy and the prospects of accession to the WTO.

cotton market

Turkey is a very important cotton country, which is an advantage in raw materials for the clothing industry. Turkey is a traditional cotton producer and uses this advantage in the textile and clothing sector. Turkey ranks first in Europe and sixth in world cotton production with an average production of 800,000-900,000 tons per year.

year. In addition, with the completion of irrigation projects under the Southeast Anatolia Project (GAP), Turkey’s most comprehensive development program, current cotton production is expected to double by 2005.

During the 2003-04 season, Turkey produced 893,000 tons of cotton. About 30% of cotton production is high-quality long-staple cotton and the rest is of medium quality. The cotton industry provides a competitive advantage to the textile industry, which uses cotton as an essential raw material.

Cotton Market Trends

The main export destinations for cotton yarn are Italy, Portugal, Greece and Belgium, and for cotton fabrics, the United Kingdom, Italy, the USA and Belgium. Although Turkey used to be a net exporter of cotton, the trade balance reversed in 1992 and since then Turkey has been a net importer of cotton as domestic demand has persistently exceeded available stocks. In addition to cotton, Turkey has a strong position in the production of synthetic fibers, wool, and mohair. Turkey ranks ninth in synthetic fiber, eighth in wool and third in mohair production in the world.

home textile industry

In addition to the Turkish textile industry, the Turkish home textile industry has also shown growth in terms of production and exports. In recent years, the production of home textiles has shown a stable increase due to the increase in domestic and foreign demand for home textiles. The Turkish home textiles industry has registered growth in terms of production and exports in recent years. Almost all types of home textiles are produced in Turkey. These may be listed as follows in order of their export values: bed linen, bedspreads, table linen, towels, bathrobes, veils, curtains, lace, interior blinds, curtain or bed valances, blankets, cushions, pillows, duvets, duvets

In the home textile sector, in addition to large-scale enterprises, there are many small and medium-sized enterprises spread all over the country. As a division of the textile industry, the home textiles sector accounts for a 3.2% share of Turkey’s total exports and has been an important sub-sector for the Turkish economy. European countries are the most important markets for Turkey’s home textile exports. Currently, Germany, the UK, France, the US, the Netherlands and the Russian Federation are the main markets for Turkey’s home textile exports. New markets such as Poland, Hungary, Romania and the CIS countries are gaining more and more importance.

Foreign Investments in the Sector

Turkish garment and textile products have a good reputation in foreign markets as a result of the availability of high-quality cotton in Turkey, the extensive use of CAD (Computer Aided Design) and CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing). ) and the increase in the number of qualified personnel.

Conclusion

The sector is aware of the trend in international markets towards a growing demand for healthier and more environmentally friendly products and tries to adapt to this evolution through legal and technical regulations.

However, it is difficult to maintain its competitive position in the global market full of emerging players. Therefore, manufacturers have shifted their operations to value-added products and brand building. Currently, 30% of Turkish manufacturers have their own designs and brands in international markets.

As current studies reveal, developed countries will have a decreasing share of global textile production, while developing countries will increase their manufacturing capacity to meet growing demand. It is also estimated that by 2005, developing countries will increase their self-sufficiency in textile production. The United States, with an estimated 200% increase in textile consumption, is also estimated to have a 32% decline in self-sufficiency by the year 2005.

Turkey, with its adaptability to European environmental, health, quality and safety related standards and regulations, aims to move to the production of more and more value-added products, to an era where the industry Turkish textile will be known for its quality. registered trademarks and will set the price of a product for the Made in Turkey sign.