‘‘Turkey will Make A Significant Difference In The Global Textile Market with Its Strong Infrastructure’’
During the troublesome Coronavirus pandemic period, which has affected the whole world, the Turkish textile and ready-to-wear sectors have accomplished much success. The factories were rapidly converted to protective mask production facilities with the production campaign that was launched under the leadership of the Turkish Exporters Assembly.
Ahmet Öksüz, Chairman of the Board of Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Association (İTHİB), made exclusive assessments for this month’s issue of Textile Technology magazine.
Öksüz stated the following, ‘‘We anticipate that we will achieve a steep acceleration in our export figures starting from the second half of 2020 with the decreasing trend in the number of positive Covid-19 cases,’’ and continued as follows:
‘‘As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was once again observed how strategically important our sectors are. If we did not have robust ready-to-wear companies and domestic raw material production facilities today, we would face great difficulties regarding medical textile products just as many countries did. ‘’
During the troublesome Coronavirus pandemic period, the Turkish textile industry gave a successful test with the confidence it provided in the supply chain and the actions it quickly took in altering conditions. The industry supported many countries, especially in masks and protective clothing. What kind of expansions should the Turkish textile sector perform in the post-pandemic period? What should be our road map?
We are going through a very troublesome period worldwide. In this continuum that we have experienced, as the textile and garment sectors, we have entered an intense working pace. Our companies continued their operations around the clock within the framework of our country’s need for masks and protective clothing. We have quickly transformed our production plants to mask production facilities within the framework of the campaign that we initiated with the leadership of Turkish Exporters Assembly. Many of our production facilities have invested in medical textile products such as disposable masks and protective gowns. Our companies, which do not produce medical textiles, continue their works even in part-time fashion. With the removal of the restriction on the multi-use mask exports, a new movement started in the production of our factories. In the second half of 2020, we aim to largely compensate for the export loss. As the textile and raw materials industry, of course, in the coming period, we will be shaped according to new rules and new normal regulations and we will continue our exports. As the national textile and raw materials industry, which has a very high ability to adapt to changing global trade norms and trends, we are carrying out studies to advance our sector further. In this context, we carry out projects in many areas related to e-commerce, alternative logistics channels, online exhibitions, and digitalization. We plan to contribute to the digital transformation of our companies and meet our companies with alternative marketing methods such as virtual commerce delegations, by carrying out works such as our ‘Technical Textiles Transformation and Innovation’ clustering project that we started before the corona virus pandemic outbreak.
In the post-pandemic period, the European countries moved their orders to Turkey instead of remote routes especially in supplying textile and ready-to-wear products. This means new business opportunities and more exports. What is your assessment of this subject? What kind of steps should Turkey take to convert this opportunity into advantages?
In countries where the pandemic outbreak was taken under control, restrictions are being gradually removed. In Turkey and in some retail chain markets in Europe, the stores are gradually opening. In addition, orders in our sector have started to come to our companies, albeit a little. With the decreasing trend in the number of cases, we foresee that we will achieve a steep acceleration in our export figures starting from the second half of 2020.
As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was once again observed how strategically important our industries are. If we did not have robust ready-to-wear companies and domestic raw material production facilities today, we would face great difficulties regarding medical textile products just as many countries did. Another result of the pandemic was that import operations should no longer be dependent on a single country. We received positive news regarding many countries changing their orders from China to Turkey after the pandemic period. As an alternative to China, Turkey will make a significant difference in the global textile and apparel market with its strong infrastructure with the re-initiation of the markets.
Interview: Tekstil Teknoloji Magazine