Silkworm Export Awards were Presented in Bursa
The most prestigious awards of the textile and ready-to-wear sectors, which are among the strategic sectors of Turkey with their value-added production, contribution to employment, and the net foreign exchange earnings they bring to the national economy, found their owners. The ‘2021 Silkworm Export Awards’, organized jointly by Uludağ Textile Exporters’ Association (UTİB) and Uludağ Apparel and Clothing Exporters’ Association (UHKİB), was held at the Uludağ Exporters’ Association (UİB) headquarters. In the textile sector, Yeşim Satış Mağazaları ve Tekstil Fabrikaları A.Ş. ranked first again as in the previous year, while Fistaş Dış Ticaret Pazarlama A.Ş. and Zorlu Dış Ticaret A.Ş. were the most successful companies. Yeşim Satış Mağazaları ve Tekstil Fabrikaları A.Ş., EDT Dış Ticaret A.Ş. and Öz Tekstil Sanayi ve Tic. Ltd. Şti. realized the highest exports and shared the first three places.
“Great Opportunities in the Sector”
UHKİB Chairman of the Board of Directors Nüvit Gündemir stated that they are proud to host the ceremony where successful member companies were awarded together with UTİB and that UHKİB broke an all-time record by reaching an export figure of 1 billion dollars with an increase of 32 percent in 2021 and shared his insights as follows, ‘‘This point is the result of the investments made in R&D, innovation, brand, and fashion. There are great opportunities for Turkey in textiles and apparel in the coming years. In order for us to turn this situation into an opportunity, we need to give importance to design and digitalization in production. Recently, especially the integration of the sector into Industry 4.0 will contribute to the competitiveness of our companies in the international arena, increase the share of the market and make it easier to harmonize with the world.’’
UTİB Chairman of the Board Pınar Taşdelen Engin underlined that as the Union, they will continue to contribute to Turkish textile in 2022. President Engin, who also stated that another issue that they attach importance to as UTİB is women’s employment and gender equality, continued, ‘‘Our women are the pillars of this country and they should receive the value they deserve in every field. I will express it at every opportunity until I see that this has turned from rhetoric to action in my country and that there is no need for positive discrimination. For this reason, in order to encourage the increase in the number of women in the sector, we have launched a special award application for the female representatives of our business world for the last two years in our Techxtile Sart-Up Challenge program. We have also seen that this award encouraged our women even more. Even in 2020, when the pandemic was intense, we received 174 project applications, an increase of 66 percent compared to the previous year. As 64 of the projects came from our women entrepreneurs, a woman entrepreneur won the first prize. We will continue to diversify such special award practices.’’
“Bursa Leads Turkey’s Exports”
İbrahim Burkay, Chairman of the Board of Directors of BTSO, noted that Bursa was the second-largest city in Turkey with an export figure of 16 billion dollars last year, despite a 2-billion-dollar deficit in the automotive sector due to the chip crisis, and indicated: ‘‘Our city, which attaches importance to production and exports based on the motto ‘If Bursa grows, Turkey grows’, has once again demonstrated its success by giving an annual foreign trade surplus of 8 billion dollars. The textile and apparel industry, exporting over 30 billion dollars, both sets the trends and has a say in world design.’’
‘‘We Will Accomplish Successful Works’’
TİM President Mustafa Gültepe, who has recently taken office, said that he has only been talking about textiles for 32 years, but from now on, as the President of TIM, they will put a different signature on Turkey’s export future together with all sectors. Gültepe continued his statements as follows, ‘‘The textile and ready-made clothing sector are among the leading sectors in Turkey with an export figure of over 30 billion dollars. These two sectors lead all sector stakeholders with their ability to produce joint strategies and projects as well as their successful work. We should always strive to carry our achievements further by embracing our dynamism and motivation.’’
206 Companies Were Awarded
A total of 206 companies, 148 from the textile industry and 58 from the ready-made clothing and apparel industry, were entitled to receive awards at the 2021 Silkworm Export Awards, where a total of 206 companies were awarded. UTIB; It awarded platinum to the top 3 exporting companies in the textile sector, gold to 13 companies, silver to 25 companies, and bronze to 26 companies, and awarded 81 companies with a “Certificate of Contribution to Export” for their successful work. UHKİB, on the other hand, awarded platinum to the top 3 exporters in the ready-to-wear and apparel industry, gold to 11 companies, silver to 19 companies, and bronze to 23 companies.