EHKIB: In the Last Quarter of 2024, the Sector May Recover
At the press conference held with the participation of Burak Sertbaş, President of Aegean Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters’ Association (EHKİB), Seray Seyfeli, Vice President of EHKİB, and Çağlar Bağcı, Vice President of EHKİB; the evaluation of 2023, projections and targets for 2024 were shared.
Burak Sertbaş, President of the Aegean Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters’ Association: “We realized an export of 19.2 billion dollars in 2023 in the ready-to-wear sector in Turkey in general. Our EHKİB 2023 exports amounted to 1 billion 340 million dollars. We closed 2023 with a 9% decrease compared to last year in Turkey in general and EHKİB in particular. 2023 was a difficult year for our sector. Among the most important reasons for this difficulty are the recession in Europe, our main export market, the uncertainty created by the Russia-Ukraine war, the difficulty in accessing financing in the country, and the increases in labor/energy costs.”
“We Target 1 Billion 350 Million Dollars Export”
Burak Sertbaş said that if things go well in the sector, they expect a recovery in the last quarter of the year: “As the Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Sector Board, we set our year-end export target as 20 billion dollars. Unfortunately, the general economic conjuncture and insufficient foreign demand are reflected in our export figures. January figures for 2024 were announced. In January, our exports across TR amounted to 1.4 billion dollars and EHKİB exports amounted to 113 million dollars. In 2024, we will try to catch up with last year. This year we aim to export 1 billion 350 million dollars. We are among Turkey’s most value-added exporting sectors. Our export unit price per kilogram is well above Turkey’s average. TR general export kg price is 15 dollars/kg, EHKİB export kg price is 21 dollars/kg.”
“Our P&D Project with the Participation of 22 Companies was Finalized”
Sertbaş, President of EHKİB said, “Within the scope of our cooperation with the Danish Consulate, the cluster named CLOTH, consisting of European brands and ready-to-wear organizations, visited our region in October 2023 and held contacts with our producers on sustainable production. The delegation visited Turkey to learn new knowledge and insights on sustainability and circular economy in the field of textiles and to establish new connections. With the participation of 22 companies, we finalized our P&D Project on the development of sustainable competition in the ready-to-wear sector this year. At the closing of our project, we organized a study trip to Sweden, which carries out important studies in terms of sustainability, on April 2-6, 2023 with the participating companies. We are preparing a handbook explaining the processes that our companies should follow in preparation for sustainable production.”
Explaining that they realized the first foreign market activity of 2024 by participating in the Munich Fabric Start the Source fair with 10 companies, Burak Sertbaş said: “Demand in our main market Europe is still not at the level we want, but it is very important that we regularly participate in international fairs in our biggest markets. The second MFS the Source fair will be organized in September and we will start the necessary preparations to take part in that fair as well. We have finished our PV Manufacturing Paris fair organized last week. As an association, we have completed our second fair. Our companies are generally satisfied with the PV Paris fair. The second PV Paris fair will be held in July and we will take our place there as an Association. Italy Buyer Delegation: Our next activity is planning to host a group of Italian buyers in İzmir in May.”
“We will Continue Our Sustainable and Responsible Production Approach in 2024”
Sertbaş, President of EHKİB said, “We plan to develop projects for the Northern countries, the UK and the USA, which are among our target markets, in the new year. Our contacts with the relevant institutions for these markets are ongoing. We will continue our sustainable and responsible production approach in 2024. We are working on determining the operational framework required for the sector to comply with the requirements of the EU Green Deal, evaluating the current situation of the sector, identifying areas of development and establishing sectoral strategies in this direction. In line with these efforts, we, as EHKİB, applied to the Cluster Support program of the Ministry of Industry and Technology with 38 companies and 6 partners and we are waiting for a positive response.”
Seray Seyfeli, Vice President of Aegean Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters’ Association: “Market loss will continue in 2024. It is getting more and more difficult for us to return the customers who worked with other countries for about 4 seasons, and even if everything goes well, recovery can only start at the end of 2025. As the Aegean Region, we are very good at design and sustainability. We have companies that work far above European standards. We need to do value-added work. There may be a shift towards technical clothing.”
Çağlar Bağcı, Vice President of the Aegean Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters’ Association, said: “The ready-to-wear sector is Turkey’s most important employment depot. In order to overcome this challenge, it is obvious that we need to produce with high added value, design, innovation and sustainability-oriented production. We have to rapidly adapt our industry and ourselves to this change. Although the Suez Canal crisis has caused some Far Eastern orders to shift to Turkey, this will only be beneficial in the short term. The sector that will best adapt to the transformation in Turkey is the ready-to-wear sector. Our most important goal is to complete this in the fastest way possible and leave these difficult times behind permanently.”
