We Must Make Export Growth Sustainable

As the Türkiye Exporters' Assembly (TİM), we concluded October with an intensive schedule of activities. We organised the 13th edition of Türkiye Innovation Week with the participation of our President. We presented our “Export Competitiveness Report”, prepared in collaboration with PwC, to the public. At the “Delegates' Workshop” we held in Antalya, we convened with our export community to hear firsthand the challenges facing our sectors, their expectations and proposed solutions. We took careful note of the issues, requests, views and recommendations raised by our delegates.

Throughout October, a month marked by significant events, we also maintained our production and export activities without losing momentum. We recorded exports worth $25.9 billion in October, achieving the highest October export figure on record, with an 8.1 per cent increase compared with the same month last year. Our exports over the first ten months rose to $236.8 billion, while exports over the trailing twelve months reached $285.6 billion. We registered growth of 5.5 per cent in the January–October period and 5.8 per cent on a rolling annual basis.

Following the double-digit growth recorded in September, closing October with an 8.1 per cent increase is undoubtedly a significant achievement. However, we cannot overlook the decline in export volumes. We concluded the first ten months with a 2.1 per cent contraction in volume terms. The competitiveness report we prepared in collaboration with PwC clearly identifies the underlying cause of this decline in export volumes despite the increase in export value. At the heart of the problem lies the divergence between Türkiye and its competitor countries in terms of inflation and rising costs. It is precisely this divergence that is placing us at a disadvantage in the global race for competitiveness.

We welcome the Central Bank's decision to resume interest rate cuts after a prolonged hiatus. Nevertheless, the difficulties we face regarding foreign exchange conversion support continue to intensify. We had anticipated an increase in the 3 per cent foreign exchange conversion support rate to help narrow, at least to some extent, the gap between inflation and exchange rate movements. The outcome, however, fell far short of our expectations. Not only has the bureaucratic burden increased, but the effective support rate has also fallen below even 1 per cent for many companies. We have been receiving a substantial number of complaints from our exporters over the past month. We call on the Central Bank to review the current arrangements without delay and, at the very least, reinstate the previous system. We also expect prompt measures to facilitate our exporters' access to affordable, long-term financing.

Despite these challenges, we remain fully engaged in the field, mobilising all the resources at our disposal. We are working tirelessly to connect our exporters with new markets. As TİM and the exporters' associations, we organised 22 trade delegations, 3 inward buying missions, 29 trade fair participations and 2 International Competitiveness Development (UR-GE) activities in October. We brought our companies together with prospective buyers in Kazakhstan, Mexico, Hong Kong and Singapore. In November, we will visit key markets, including Australia, Japan, France and Germany. In every new market we enter and through every new partnership we establish, we will continue striving to ensure that our exporters reap the rewards of their hard work.

We began the year with a merchandise export target of $282 billion. In light of the figures recorded over the first ten months, I anticipate that we can close the year with exports exceeding $285 billion. I also firmly believe that we will achieve our $128 billion target for services exports. We remain steadfast in our commitment to production and exports, undeterred by challenges, unwavering in our determination and undiminished in our motivation. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to every member of our export community whose dedication and hard work contribute to this endeavour.