TIM President Mustafa Gultepe said, “We aim to export a total of $402 billion in 2024, including $267 billion of goods and $135 billion of service exports.”
TIM President Mustafa Gultepe, in his speech at the annual evaluation meeting, said that Turkiye exported goods worth $255.8 billion in 2023 and increased its share in global exports from 1.02% to 1.06%, and that the automotive industry is the export champion with $35 billion.
Stating that chemicals rank second with $30.5 billion, and ready-made clothing and apparel rank third with $19.2 billion, Gultepe emphasized that a significant success has been achieved despite the contraction in the markets and the loss of competitiveness of some sectors due to high costs in the country.
“We exceeded the $1 billion export limit in 23 sectors”
Gultepe continued his words by pointing out that global trade contracted by $2 trillion last year:
“In a period when demand declined, our labor-intensive sectors had difficulty maintaining prices due to high costs. Earthquakes, regional wars and conflicts also had a negative impact on our trade. We turned to alternative markets to compensate for our losses.
We organized the most delegations in our history. We organized a total of 222 purchasing and trade delegations. In 2023, we added 18 thousand more companies to our export family. We reached 120 thousand in the total number of exporting companies and the highest export value in 10 sectors. We exceeded the $1 billion export limit in 23 sectors. We exported the most to Germany, the USA and Iraq. While we increased our exports to 113 countries, we broke export records in 66 countries. We increased the number of countries to which we export more than $1 billion to 50. Our kilogram export unit value was $1.57.”
“Global demand decreased in 12 of the 13 sectors where our exports decreased”
Mustafa Gultepe stated that exports decreased in 13 of 27 sectors and said, “Global demand decreased in 12 of the 13 sectors I mentioned, but in 7 sectors, there is a greater decrease in Turkiye’s exports than the contraction in global demand. The table shows us that we are experiencing market losses in these sectors. For example, automotive, our largest exporting sector, experienced market losses in 42 countries last year.”
Explaining that last year, they made 41% of their total exports to European Union (EU) countries, and the said rate exceeded 56% with other European countries, Gultepe said:
“When we include the Near and Middle East and North America, we reach 80%. This table shows us something; we will keep our alternative and potential markets on our radar, whether near or far, but we will mainly focus on large markets with high import potential. When we look at it conjuncturally, we know that our job is not easier than 2023. Because a revival in global economies is not expected before the second half of the year. The limited growth expectation in global trade will of course have some negative repercussions on us.”
Gultepe stated that some sectors will have difficulty in competing with rival countries this year, as they did last year, as they have difficulty in keeping prices due to high costs, and stated that they determined the road map by taking all scenarios into consideration in the delegates workshop they organized with the participation of 27 sectors.
Pointing out that they started the second century of the Republic with the aim of making Turkiye among the top 10 countries in exports, Gultepe stated that they are working to achieve this goal step by step.
“Despite the global contraction, the increase in exports is a great success”
In his statement to the AA correspondent after the meeting, TIM President Gultepe drew attention to the importance of the limited increase in exports last year and emphasized that the increase in a year when the earthquake disaster occurred and the world economy shrank should be considered as a great success of Turkish exporters.
Reminding that Turkiye exported goods worth $255.8 billion, Gultepe said, “We aim to export a total of $402 billion in 2024, including $267 billion of goods and $135 billion of service exports.”
“We will increase our exports to distant markets”
Mustafa Gultepe stated that, as TIM, they organized the most trade and purchasing delegations in the history of the Republic in 2023 and gave the following information:
“We made over 200 trips. Almost the entire export family explored all over the world without ever sitting still. In 2024, we will continue these travels at an accelerated pace, but we will make them a little different. We will also add ‘complementary’ trade delegations in the new period. We will go to countries by further combining sectors that are similar to each other. Our sectoral and mixed trade delegations will continue. We will organize more trade delegations, especially to the countries that make the most purchases in the world. We will organize 5 trade delegations to the USA, 3 to China and 2 to India. Our efforts to bring distant markets closer will continue. We will increase Turkiye’s export share in those regions.”
“Turkish Trade Bank will start operating in September”
TIM President Gultepe wished that the tension in the Red Sea would not grow and said, “I hope the tension in question will not grow, but if it grows in the short and medium term, every country will want to gain an advantage by thinking of itself. If the tension increases, some problems may occur in sectors that have time problems and require fast supply and fast consumption. In any case, we hope for a world where political stability and political relations develop. If such a world exists, we can easily reach the $575 billion of exports we target for 2028.”
Gultepe reminded that Turkish Trade Bank was purchased by IGE AS and said:
“Starting from September, we will gradually start activities to make the bank the second address of our exporters. We will work entirely on the project, together with our unions, exporters and industrialists. In line with the project and product that the exporter will put forward, we will start working in this context as capital, perhaps as a partner, in the coming periods.”
Source: Trthaber / Prepared by Irem Yildiz