Country lifts export target to 300 billion dollars
President of Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) Mustafa Gultepe stated that Turkiye aims to increase exports to at least 300 billion dollars in two years and to place the country among the top 10 countries in exports in the long run.
“We need to increase our exports by at least 10 percent every year in order to reach our targets. We will start 2023 with this target,” he said.
Gultepe, in his statement regarding the 2022 evaluations and 2023 predictions, said that Turkiye faced intense orders in 2021 with the effect of breaking the supply chain and high freight costs during the epidemic process, this increase in orders also reflected positively on exports, and 2021 was 225 billion dollars. He said that it was closed with such a record export.
Expressing that they stepped up export activities in 2022 and set a target of 250 billion dollars for the end of the year, Gultepe emphasized that exporters put forward a very successful performance, especially in the first half of the year.
He noted that despite the negative impact of parity, they managed to increase exports at double-digit rates.
“However, in the second half of the year, due to the energy crisis in Europe and the expectation of recession, the orders of some sectors started to decline. Due to the difficulties experienced in keeping prices in sectors such as ready-made clothing and textiles, a significant portion of the orders received during the pandemic period shifted to countries such as India and Pakistan.
However, we spent 11 months with a performance above our targets. Before we entered the last week of November, we reached the annual export volume of 2021. In the January-November period, we increased our exports by 13.9 percent to 231.2 billion dollars. We will share the pride of exceeding the target. We have a loss of over 13 billion dollars this year due to the euro/dollar parity. If the parity was around 2021 averages and without the order losses in the second half, we could have reached 270 billion dollars stressed.
Mustafa Gultepe stated that they have big goals in exports and that they have to increase their capacity with new investments and renew their technologies in order to reach these goals.
“Although Eximbank resources have been partially reopened in recent weeks, our exporters’ difficulties in accessing finance continue. We hope that this growth will accelerate to keep our companies’ investment appetite alive, make exports sustainable, and increase this year," he employment. Access to finance is vital so that exports, which have become the locomotive of our economy, do not slow down and we can prepare for the future in the best way possible," Gultepe said, emphasizing the importance of accessing adequate financing under favorable conditions.
Arguing that the current level of the exchange rate does not help exporters, Gultepe said, “We want the exchange rate to be stable and predictable. I can say that an increase in the exchange rate at or slightly above the inflation level every year is ideal for our exporters and exporters.”
TIM President stated that they aim to increase exports to at least 300 billion dollars in two years and to place Turkiye among the top 10 countries in exports in the long run.
“We will start 2023 with this target as well. However, due to the uncertainties in global trade, especially in Europe, our main market, it is not easy to draw a clear picture, especially for the first quarter of 2023. Therefore, the size of the slowdown in global markets will determine our performance next year. The impact of periodic developments on our exports.
“We aim to raise it to 125 billion dollars in 2013. Turkish TV series attracts a lot of attention, especially in Latin America. We will also use the power of TV series in our work in this geography,” Gultepe said, stressing that exports should increase by at least 10 percent every year in order to reach the targets.