All-Time Record with 12.9 Billion Dollars of Exports from the Turkish Textile Industry

Ahmet Öksüz, Chairman of the Board of Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters’ Association (İTHİB), expressed the following, ‘‘In 2021, we reached the highest export record of all time with exports worth 12.9 billion US Dollars. We are justifiably proud of achieving our goals. New goals and new horizons are next. We will crown the export success that we achieved in 2021 with textile exports worth 15 billion US Dollars in 2022.’’

In December, the textile industry reached the highest monthly export data of all time, with an increase of 18.2 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, and realizing 1.2 billion US Dollars in exports.

Exported to more than 200 countries and regions, records broken in 96 countries

Öksüz evaluated the 12-month export figures of the textile industry and stated the following, ‘‘In 2021, we exported to 200 countries and regions. Our exports increased in approximately 85% of the countries that we export to. We broke the historical record of the Turkish Republic in exports to Europe, America, Asia, African Continents, and Turkic Republics. We realized the highest textile export of all time to 96 countries and regions. One of the most pleasing developments for our industry was experienced in our exports to the USA. In 2021, we exported 839 million dollars’ worth of exports to the USA, which is one of our biggest target markets. We have been steadily increasing our exports to the USA in the last 3 years. In 2022, we expect to export textile merchandise worth more than 1 billion dollars to the USA.’’

Providing information about the largest export markets of the textile industry, İTHİB President Ahmet Öksüz indicated the following statements: ‘‘In 2021, the countries to which we export the most textile products were Italy with an increase of 52.5 percent, Germany with an increase of 11.2 percent and the USA with an increase of 33.7 percent. In 2021, our exports to the European Union countries, which is our biggest export market, increased by 33.8 percent and amounted to approximately 6 billion US Dollars. We foresee that our exports to the EU will reach 7.5 billion US Dollars in 2022.’’

‘‘Our success in our sub-sectors will continue in 2022’’

Öksüz underlined that home textiles worth 2.3 billion US Dollars and knitted fabrics worth 2.1 billion US Dollars were exported in 2021 and continued his statements as follows: ‘‘We have reached the highest export levels of all time in our home textile and knitted fabric sectors. We get a share of over 10 percent from home textile imports of our biggest export market, the EU. In the Knitted Fabric sector, we are the largest supplier of the EU. The Turkish knitted fabric sector has a share of 42.4 percent of the EU’s knitted fabric imports. We foresee that our success in the home textile and knitted fabric sectors will continue in 2022. In addition, we will make an export attack in our woven fabric and technical textile sector in 2022.’’

‘‘In 2022, we will reach 15 billion dollars of exports together’’

Ahmet Öksüz emphasized that the Turkish textile industry is the 5th largest textile exporter in the world and expressed the following, ‘‘Our textile industry is the second supplier of EU countries. Our goal is to set a new record with exports worth 15 billion US Dollars in 2022. In this context, the Texhibition Istanbul Exhibition, which we, as İTHİB, aim to hold in Istanbul in 2022 in cooperation with ITO, will play an important role in our export attack such as the I Of The World Exhibition in New York, Premiere Vision Paris, London Textile Exhibition, Munich Fabric Start, Techtextil Frankfurt Technical Textile Exhibition as we participated as an association. Especially in 2021, our companies strengthened their position in the supply chain by putting new investments into operation rapidly. In 2022, we will be champions not only in exports but also in investments. Investments of 10 billion liras will be activated in a short time. In this context, we are rapidly approaching our goal of becoming one of the world’s top 3 textile exporting countries in the medium term.’’