Türkiye recorded its highest January exports ever, totaling $20 billion
TİM Chairman Mustafa Gültepe said, “It is important that we started the year with a record. This year, we have a target of 267 billion dollars in goods and 110 billion dollars in service exports. The outstanding performance in January boosted morale and motivation. In the ranking of the sectors with the highest exports, automotive maintained its first place with 2 billion 780 million dollars. Automotive was followed by chemicals at $2.3 billion and apparel at $1.4 billion.”
Despite the contraction in global trade, Türkiye managed to close 2023 with a surplus in exports and started 2024 with a new record. In January, Türkiye achieved the highest export value of 20 billion dollars.
The export data for January was announced by Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat and Türkiye Exporters Assembly (TİM) Chairman Mustafa Gültepe in Malatya.
Mustafa Gültepe recalled that 11 provinces, including Malatya, were struck by two major earthquakes a year ago. Stating that all of Türkiye was united to heal the wounds of the earthquakes, Gültepe continued as follows:
“As TİM, with the contribution of our exporters associations, we have built temporary living centers consisting of approximately 1,500 containers and prefabricated houses in four provinces, 330 of which are in Malatya. Our focus is on restoring daily life, production, and exports to their normal state. The key to normalization is to resume production and exports, which play a critical role. We have nearly nine thousand exporter companies in the earthquake zone. In our earthquake-affected provinces, we closed 2023 with a 12.6 percent decrease compared to the previous year. Despite this, we achieved over 19 billion dollars in exports, which I consider a significant success. In January, our provinces in the disaster zone increased their total exports, and Malatya reached its pre-earthquake figure with 35 million dollars in exports. However, in 2023, Malatya's exports decreased by 15 percent to 387 billion dollars. I believe that Malatya, an important production base, has greater potential and will achieve significant success in the coming years.
EXPORTS OF SECTORS WITH WEAKENED COMPETITIVENESS CONTINUE TO DECLINE
Stating that they started 2024 with a target of $267 billion in goods and $110 billion in services exports, Mustafa Gültepe said that the performance in January is a positive indicator that they will easily reach their year-end targets. Gültepe said the following:
“According to the General Trade System (GTS) records, we completed January with exports worth 20 billion dollars. We are up 3.6 percent compared to the same month last year. Thus, we realized the highest January exports to date. It is important that we started the year with a record. Our performance in January was a good source of morale and motivation for us. Last month, 17 sectors increased their exports. When we look specifically at the sectors, the automotive industry maintained its first place with 2 billion 780 million dollars. Our other sectors in the top five are chemicals with $2.3 billion, ready-to-wear clothing with $1.4 billion, electrical electronics with $1.2 billion, and steel with $1.1 billion. In certain sectors, the consequences of losing competitiveness persist. In January, the sectors that suffered the most significant losses were ready-to-wear clothing, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, leather, olive and olive oil, cement, glass, and ceramics. Based on the headquarters of companies, TİM data shows that 48 provinces increased their exports. The top five provinces in terms of exports were Istanbul, Kocaeli, Bursa, Izmir, and Ankara. A total of 1,290 companies exported for the first time. Our top export destinations were Germany, the USA, Iraq, Italy, and the United Kingdom respectively. The positive impact of the euro/dollar parity on our exports continues. Last month, the parity difference contributed $112 million to our exports. Our unit export value was $1.48.”
WE WILL PROVIDE POSITIVE UPDATES TO OUR EXPORTERS REGARDING FINANCING FOR GREEN TRANSFORMATION
Mustafa Gültepe emphasized that it is very important for companies to have access to financing at favorable conditions in order to achieve their big export goals. Explaining that access to credit on favorable terms is one of the most important agenda items this year as well, Gültepe said, "This week we added a new financing option to the ones we offer to our exporters. With the protocol we signed with Ziraat Bank, we launched the 'Export Full Support Loan Package'. Within the scope of the protocol, our companies will be able to obtain loans of up to 5 million dollars or 150 million TL at favorable interest rates. On the other hand, we are in talks with our banks about financing the green transformation. We hope to have good news for our exporters on this issue in the near future.”