Significant Increase in Protective Mask Producing Companies
Due to the escalation in the spread of the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, the number of companies manufacturing protective masks and overalls in Turkey increased fivefold in a very short period of time. The number of companies producing and exporting medical clothing and overalls increased from 50 to 70, and the number of companies producing protective masks rose from 80 to 380.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, firms dealing business in the field of ready-to-wear and apparel expanded their product range and started to manufacture medical clothing overalls and protective masks. While 80 companies were in this area producing protective masks before the pandemic, with the outbreak this number increased five times reaching 380. In this period, the number of companies producing and exporting medical clothing and overalls went up from 50 to 70.
6200 percent increase in the export volume in three months
Mustafa Gültepe, the President of the Istanbul Garment and Apparel Exporters Association (İHKİB), who stated that they exported protective masks amounting to 36.5 million US dollars and medical overalls worth of 23.5 million US dollars in the three-month period of 2020, emphasized that exports of protective masks and medical overalls increased by 6200 and 100 percent, respectively, compared to the same period of last year. Expressing that, as a sector, they have the capability to meet the demand exceedingly, Gültepe further explained the following: ‘‘All of our manufacturing facilities with readymade and apparel production infrastructure are capable of producing protective masks and medical overall clothing. Thus, some of the idle capacity will be put to good use. Therefore, we are always in a position to meet the demand in such products.’’
Increase in the technical textile exports
The export volume of the technical textiles increased by 4.3 percent in March. This increase has been accomplished as 14 percent in fabrics that contain features such as cleaning cloths, car seats, masks, and protective clothing and especially nonwoven fabrics. Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Association (İTHİB) President Ahmet Öksüz indicated that Turkey possessed a high production capacity of manufacturing technical textile fabrics and even 10 percent of this capacity would be sufficient for the domestic usage in Turkey, furthermore said that the remaining 90 percent of the aforementioned capacity is ready to be exported.
