Kahramanmaraş Chamber of Commerce and Industry KMTSO President Şahin Balcıoğlu announced that the textile custom has been integrated in Kahramanmaraş as it stands out in the production and export of the textile industry, Balcıoğlu said the following in his speech, ‘’In the textile industry, which is the biggest industry in Kahramanmaraş, where the textile custom was accessible, 720 thousand tons of yarn, 475 million meters of woven fabric, 244 million meters of denim, 300 thousand tons of knitted fabrics, 46 million pieces of ready-made garments are being produced annually. We carry out 36 percent of cotton yarn production, 15 percent of woven and knitted fabric production, and 15 percent of denim production in Turkey. Kahramanmaraş while reaching a line of success in exports and achieved 6 per cent of our country’s textile product exports and 10 percent of its imports, positioned as the 2nd largest city in knitted fabric exports and the 4th largest city in yarn and woven fabric exports.’’
Kahramanmaraş as the City with the Largest Textile Integration
While stating that the textile industry, which has a strategic importance in Turkey's economic development, is the backbone of Turkey in terms of exports and employment, ‘’The industry, responsible for approximately 13 billion dollars of exports and which provides employment to 460 thousand, sustain its invetstment and production with an export target of 15 billion dollars for 2022 by pulling up its performance in exports. In Kahramanmaraş, which leads the industry in terms of production, export and employment, the issue associates with the ‘textile custom’ which leads to extra cost and time for domestic manufacturers has been successfully resolved.’’
While stating that since there is no textile custom, many products exported can be imported from the textile custom in other provinces, Balcıoğlu said, "The transactions of yarns and fabrics associate with imports, which were given credit by the industrialists to be employed as raw materials were not done by the Kahramanmaraş customs administration. This obstacle used to involve an important cost pressure and time problems for our manufacturing companies. However, Kahramanmaraş textile custom was made accessible with the application we have lodged made in line with the demands of our professional committees and with the support of our Minister of Commerce, with the AK Party Group Deputy Chairman and Kahramanmaraş Deputy Mahir Ünal and with the Ministry of Commerce General Manager of Customs Mustafa Gümüş.’’
While stating that Kahramanmaraş, which has the largest textile integration in Turkey, exports 1.4 billion dollars to 140 countries with its 400 exporting companies.Balcıoğlu said, ‘’In order to increase the production and export capacity of Kahramanmaraş in the textile industry, to complete the customs in a shorter time lenght, to increase the efficiency in customs controls, the establishment of a textile customs in our province will be of great benefit. Customs offices practice is defined as the customs clearance of certain goods only from certain customs administrations. With the establishment of a textile customs in a city like Kahramanmaraş, which produces for the fashion centers of the world in this sector and has a significant share in the import of textile raw materials, this problem, which negatively affects the competitiveness of the sector, has been resolved. Good luck to our Kahramanmaraş.’’
