TURKEYS READY TO WEAR INDUSTRY IS RISING FAST

Turkey’s textile and ready-to-wear exports, which have become a world-leading, playmaker and trend-setting country in the world, are moving in a positive direction. Despite the pandemic and difficulties in supplying raw materials, the increase in ready-made clothing exports in the first half of 2021 is a promising development for the future. The textile and raw materials sector, which increased its exports by 55 percent in the first six months of the year, realized an export of 4 billion 866 million dollars. The ready-made clothing and apparel industry, which is the third sector in which Turkey has reached the highest export figures, increased its exports by 35 percent compared to the same period of the previous year and reached an export figure of 9 billion 437 million dollars in the first six months of the year. Reaching 14 billion 304 million dollars of exports in the first half of the year, the share of textile sectors in total exports was 13.6%. The leather industry also displayed a successful performance in the first six months of the year, with an increase of 26 percent, achieving an export of 793 million dollars.
It is predicted that the increasing trend will continue in the coming months in parallel with the spread of vaccination and the transition to normalization. As a matter of fact, there is no problem in foreign orders for the coming months. Due to the high demand for sportswear and knitwear in particular, we have difficulties in fulfilling orders on time. The increase in exports in the ready-made clothing and apparel sector was also reflected in employment. While the capacity utilization rate reached 80 percent in June 2021, employment in the textile industry increased by 63 thousand people in the last year. Based on all these economic indicators, it is predicted that by reaching the export target of 12 billion dollars in 2021, the sector will further increase the share it receives from the EU’s imports and take the most important step towards becoming one of the top three exporting countries, which has a medium-long-term goal. In the first six months of 2021, an increase is observed in our exports in 85% of the 181 countries to which we export. In the first six months of 2021, our exports to EU countries, our biggest export market, increased by 51 percent and reached a value of 2.9 billion dollars. In addition to the EU, we are experiencing significant increases of up to 70 percent in all country groups, especially in American countries, other European countries and Former Eastern Bloc countries. In the last year, our export value per kilogram has increased by 20 percent. Branded exports are one of the factors that increase value-added exports.
January-July foreign sales of the ready-made clothing and apparel industry increased by 26.8 percent compared to the same period of the previous year and rose from 8 billion 779 million 382 thousand dollars to 11 billion 130 million 782 thousand dollars.
Ready-made clothing and apparel, the third sector with the highest share in Turkey’s exports, after the «automotive industry» with foreign sales of 16 billion 376 million 695 thousand dollars, and the «chemical substances and products» with 13 billion 885 million 154 thousand dollars of exports. it happened.
When the exports of the sector are analyzed on the basis of countries, it is seen that the most foreign sales are made to EU countries.
In the January-July period, exports to EU countries increased by 27.7 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, from 5 billion 277 million 483 thousand dollars to 6 billion 737 million 631 thousand dollars.
Exports to EU members in ready-to-wear and apparel accounted for 60.5 percent of overall exports.
There was also an increase in the export of ready-made clothing and apparel to Germany, the country to which Turkey exports the most. In the January-July period, 1 billion 896 million 868 thousand dollars of ready-made clothing and apparel products were exported to this country, with an increase of 12.6% compared to the same period of the previous year. In the same period last year, 1 billion 684 million 114 thousand dollars were sold to Germany.
Exports to Spain, which is the second country to which the industry exports the most after Germany, increased by 54.2 percent from 953 million 215 thousand dollars to 1 billion 469 million 862 thousand dollars in this period.
The United Kingdom followed Spain with an increase of 36.5 percent and an export of 1 billion 124 million 307 thousand dollars.
In the same period, foreign sales to the Netherlands increased by 21.8 percent from 662 million 730 thousand dollars to 807 million 236 thousand dollars.
On the other hand, France, which exported 429 million 412 thousand dollars of ready-made clothing and apparel products in the 7 months of last year, became the 5th country with the highest export volume, with an increase of 26.5 percent and 543 million 91 thousand dollars in the same period of 2021.