Leather and Fur Garment Exports Reached 224 Million Dollars
The 11th Leather&Fur Fashion Show Fair, organized by the Turkish Leather Confectioners Association (TDKD), brought together visitors who wanted to see Turkish leather with over 1200 exhibitors from nearly 20 countries. TDKD, Chairman of the Board of Directors Fatih Dursun said during the fair that last year’s leather garment exports totaled 236 million dollars.
70 companies from Turkey participated in the Leather&Fur Fashion Show Fair, which opened its doors in Belek Tourism Center in Antalya’s Serik district. The countries with the highest participation in the fair were Russia and Ukraine.
Emphasizing that they closed the year 2022 with a figure of over 2 billion dollars as leather and leather products, Dursun said: “This increase is due to the prices per kilogram reaching 136 dollars. In the first 11 months of 2023, sector exports reached 224 million dollars with an increase of 2%. This fair appeals to a market of 700-800 million dollars with suitcase trading and tourism sales of southern tradesmen.”
“We Try to Compensate the Decline in Exports to Russia with America”
TDKD Chairman of the Board of Directors: “As the leather and garment sector, our main markets are the Northern countries, the cold regions of Europe, Russia and Ukraine. We try to compensate the post-war decline in exports to Russia with America. Latin American countries, Korea and Scandinavian countries are among our target markets. Emphasizing that leather and leather products have a market share of 250 billion dollars in the world and that Turkey has only a 1.8% share, Dursun stated that they have included Latin American countries, Korea and Scandinavian countries among the target markets in order to get more from this share.
Dursun: “The sanctions against Russia did not disrupt our relationship. Exports to Russia fell due to the war. The reuse of the ruble unit was a disadvantage for us because we buy raw leather with dollars. We are trying to compensate the Russian deficit in exports with America.”
“We Expect an Exchange Rate Policy Parallel to Increasing Costs”
Sharing the information that the European Union ranks first, the USA ranks second and Russia ranks third among the main markets of the leather and apparel sector, Dursun stated that China is their biggest competitor. Dursun “The labor share only reaches 60% of the produced product. This also includes the prices of the products, electricity and water energy we use. When this happens, we come to the point of losing our markets. In the face of rising costs, we are competing with China’s aggressive price policy. Currently, there is a 15% loss in the sector’s official exports and nearly 50% loss in suitcase and southern exports. We may lose this sector irreversibly. One of the biggest problems we face is access to affordable credit. In our sector, everything except labor costs is in dollars. The current exchange rate prices are pushing us very hard. We do not demand a high exchange rate, we just expect an exchange rate policy in line with increasing costs.” commented.
Stating that in the leather industry, animals are not killed for their skins, but the skins of animals killed for feeding purposes are used, Dursun underlined that the main danger is the products known as artificial leather, which consists entirely of petrochemical products, plastic and polyester. Finally, Dursun shared the information that they will go to the event to be held in Norway in the near future with 10-12 companies by organizing national participation.
