The leather and leather products sector broke a record in exports with $2 billion 57 million last year.
Guven Karaca, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Istanbul Leather and Leather Products Exporters’ Association (IDMIB), said that the leather and leather products industry realized an export of $182.4 million in December with an increase of 15.3% compared to the same period of 2021.
Karaca stated that last month, $31.7 million were made to Ukraine with an increase of 1,200%, $12.1 million to Germany with a decrease of 10.5%, and $8.5 million were made to Italy with a decrease of 13.4%, from the top 3 countries to which they exported the most.
Evaluating the export figures of sub-product groups, Karaca said:
“Our sub-sector, to which we exported the most in December, was the footwear industry with $106.7 million. We achieved an increase of 33.1% in the footwear industry compared to the same month of 2021, and we broke the export record of all time. In the leather and leather products sector, the export value and the rate of change realized in our other product groups compared to December 2021, increased by 41.5% in the saddlery product group, respectively, to $37.1 million, semi-finished and finished leather and processed fur product group decreased by 33.6% to $19.1 million, leather and fur clothing product group decreased by 16.7% to $17.8 million. In line with these figures, we reached the highest December values in our exports of footwear and saddlery product groups. In leather and leather products, in December 2022, our export increase on value basis was 15.3%, while our export on quantity basis decreased by 8%. While an increase in exports was achieved on a value basis, the decrease in exports on a quantity basis is also an indication of the increase in value-added product production in our sector.”
The countries with the highest exports in 2022 were Germany, Italy and Ukraine.
Guven Karaca emphasized that they have achieved a significant increase in 2022 export figures and said, “Our sector achieved an export value of $2 billion 57 million with an increase of 19% in the January-December period. Thus, the leather and leather products sector, which broke the seasonal export record of all times, has surpassed an important threshold by realizing an export of over $2 billion.”
Stating that they broke records in the shoe industry, Karaca said:
“We achieved an increase of 21.2% compared to the same period of the previous year, with another record in the shoe industry, and reached the export level of $1 billion 218 million. In the saddlery product group, we achieved an export of $320.2 million with an increase of 32.2%. In the same period, exports amounted to $277 million with an increase of 2% in the semi-finished and finished leather and processed fur sub-product group, and $237 million with an increase of 12.1% in the leather and fur clothing group. The top 3 countries to which we export the most in 12 months of the year; Germany, where our exports increased by 22.7% to $164.2 million, Italy, to which we exported $145 million with an increase of 48%, and Ukraine, where we exported $88 million with an increase of 322%. We achieved an export of $807 million with an increase of 24.5% in our exports to EU countries.”
“Extra labor is the biggest issue in the leather industry that we need to think about”
Gurkan Gozmen, Chairman of the Turkish Leather Confectioners Association (TDKD), stated that the 2023 growth target in the sector is 20%.
Expressing that they felt the effects of the recession expectation, Gozmen said, “The biggest issue in the leather industry that we need to think about is extra labor. The more we can obtain the extra labor force, the more our exports and the number of products we can sell to places where we can market will increase. The point where we are currently stuck is the lack of additional workforce. We need to do some work to increase this workforce.”
Source: AA / Translated by Irem Yildiz