Turkey Purchased 2,548 Circular Knitting Machines in the First 8 Months of 2021
The knitting industry is one of the industries that survived the pandemic process with the least damage. The knitting industry has increased its exports thanks to the advantages such as Turkey’s proximity to European countries and the advantages of Turkish manufacturers such as high quality and fast production capacity with short deadlines. The knitting industry, which experienced an increase in orders in 2021, just like in 2020 when the pandemic started, played an active role in closing the current account deficit by providing employment and added value.
According to the official data of TUIK (Turkish Statistical Institute); Businesses operating in the knitting sector managed to incorporate 2,548 circular knitting machines between January and August 2021. About $117 million was paid for these machines.
Most Circular Knitting Machines Have Purchased from China
Machines of European origin, which ranked first in machinery purchases in previous years, lost the top to the Far East this year, as in 2020. While China, where 1480 machines were purchased in 2021, was in the first place, Germany took the second place with 352 machines and Italy took the third place with 292 machines. These countries are respectively followed; Taiwan with 234 machines, Japan with 158 machines, South Korea with 25 machines, the United Kingdom with 5 machines, Spain with 1 machine and Czechia with 1 machine.
Approximately $42.5 million was paid to China for 1480 machines. Considering the amounts paid, Germany ranked second with approximately 28 million dollars, Japan third with 19 million dollars and Italy fourth with approximately 17 million dollars.
Other knitted fabric exports worth 1.2 billion dollars in 2021
When knitted fabric exports are analyzed on the basis of sub-product groups in the January-December period of 2021, it is seen that the most important sub-product group is other knitted fabrics with an export value of 1.2 billion dollars. The share of other knitted fabric product group in total knitted fabric exports was 58.3%. The second sub-product group to which the industry exports the most in 2021 was knitted fabrics containing elastomeric or rubber yarn with a share of 31.8% in total exports. In 2021, $680,561 million of knitted fabric containing elastomeric or rubber yarn was exported. In the same year, warp knitted fabric ranked third with an export of 133,620 million dollars.
Italy, the Most Important Country in Knitted Fabric Export
The most important country in knitted fabric exports in the January-December period of 2021; Italy, with an export value of 306 million dollars. Knitted fabric exports to Italy increased by 46.6% in this period. Other important countries that come to the fore in knitted fabric exports in 2021; Belarus, Bulgaria and Russia. In the January-December period, exports to EU countries, where 44.7% of Turkey’s knitted fabric exports are realized, increased by 35.6% and reached a value of 955 million dollars.
