Despite the Pandemic, the Dyeing-Finishing Sector Continued to Invest
Having a very important position in the manufacturing industry and exports of our country, the ‘finishing sector’ is also known as the dynamo of the textile and apparel industry. Approximately 600 enterprises operate in the field of textile finishing in Turkey.
In addition, an average of 250 people can be employed in a textile finishing factory. The total employment of the sector is around 150 thousand people. Textile finishing factories have a production capacity of 20-25 tons per day.
Turkey has an important share in the world, especially in the field of dyeing, finishing and finishing machinery. The Turkish textile finishing industry ranks third after China and India in terms of production. The best finishing process, including so-called knitted fabric particularly with natural fibers as cotton and viscose group in the global market, is achieved in Turkey.
In particular, the speed and fashion understanding of the textile finishing processes are in a pretty good position in Turkey compared to other countries in the world market.
While Turkey increases its market share in the world in textile machinery, it is clearly observed that textile-finishing machinery is the particular sub-product group that our country is the most competitive and provides foreign trade surplus.
The borders closed with the pandemic and the panic atmosphere in foreign markets reduced the export market of textile machinery manufacturers. In addition, the development in the field of textile imports accelerated. Especially in dyeing and finishing machines, which are the most important export items of Turkish manufacturers, exports started to decline, while imports increased significantly.
In the January-June 2020 period, Turkey’s exports decreased by 15.7 percent compared to the same period of 2019, while imports increased by 33.4 percent. The same proportions were approximately valid for textile finishing machinery.
In the first six months of 2020 (January-June), Turkey’s textile finishing machinery imports amounted to approximately 100 million US Dollars. A large part of this import volume was generated by the machinery from China. Textile finishing machines were sold to our country in the first six months of the year, from China amounting to 40 million US Dollars, from Germany amounting to 20 million US Dollars and from Italy amounting to 16 million US Dollars.
In contrast, in the January-June period of 2020, Turkey’s finishing machinery exports amounted to 216 million US Dollars. It was seen that an important part of this export was made to countries such as Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran, and Italy.
Despite the pandemic, the textile industry continued its investments. When we look at the investment incentive certificates received in the textile sector in the first quarter of 2020, we see that 46 companies made finishing investments.
Finishing Machinery Export was 3 Times the Import in 2019
By the end of 2019, Turkey’s textile machinery exports amounted to very close to 800 million US Dollars. Exports of textile finishing machines within the total textile machinery export amounted to 600 million US Dollars.
Thus, about 75 percent of exports were made up of textile finishing machinery. In addition, among the textile machinery imports in 2019, the import of finishing machines was about 200 million US Dollars. According to this situation, exports in textile finishing machines were 3 times of imports.
