It is planned that 550 companies and 30 thousand professionals from more than 110 countries will participate in the organization, which will continue until March 8 and will be held at the Istanbul Expo Center. While speaking at the opening of the event, where yarn and denim divisions launched the first time this year which organized by Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters Association (İTKİB) Fuarcılık A.Ş, Trade Minister Dr. Ömer Bolat said, “The textile and apparel sector played an important role in Turkey's export-led growth ideal, which started 40 years ago. Our exports in these sectors recorded as 32 billion 885 million dollars in 2023. In the January-February period of 2024, this figure recorded as 5 billion 295 million dollars. We allocate 61 percent of our budget to our exporters. As the Ministry of Commerce, we closely follow the adaptation progress to the sustainable and circular economy and take active responsibility."
"Global Market Will Revitalize"
Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) President Mustafa Gültepe said the following during the speech; “While observing the first two months of the year, we are behind our targets. Despite every challenge we may face, we keep our morale at high levels within this period. As a matter of fact, I can say with a confidence that the bad days are over. With the revival of global markets in the second half of the year, the bar will turn into our favour again in both our ready-made clothing and textile exports."
The Most Prestigious Fair
Ahmet Öksüz, Chairman of İTHİB Board of Directors, said; “With Texhibition, we became one of the single textile fairs with the highest number of visitors in the world. To maintain our quality and to grow in a controlled manner; our biggest goal is to make our fair one of the most prestigious exhibitions in the world. I am sure that we can achieve our goals with the support we receive from all stakeholder institutions, primarily from our Minister of Trade." The textile industry, which completed last year with 11.6 billion dollars of exports and is one of Turkey's leading sectors in production and employment, became together at the Texhibition Istanbul Yarn, Fabric and Textile Accessories Fair for the fifth time this year which regarded as the Europe's largest textile fair. The opening of the fair, which is hosted by the Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Association (İTHİB) and will continue until March 8, was attended by the Minister of Trade Dr. Ömer Bolat, Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) President Mustafa Gültepe and İTHİB Chairman of the Board Ahmet Öksüz. With the fair held at Istanbul Expo Center, the aim was on increasing the production capacity and design power of the Turkish textile industry; where yarn and denim divisions were also taken into exhibits for the first time this year.
Elevating Domestic Brand Perception and Brand Value
Minister of Commerce Dr. Ömer Bolat said the following during the opening speech, "We allocate 61 percent of our budget to our exporters" and added, "I firmly believe that Texhibition Istanbul Fair will increase the visibility of our country in the world markets, increase our brand value by strengthening the perception of domestic brand, and make significant contributions to our country to become a center of design and new generation products and finally, become one of the three biggest giants in the world. The textile apparel products industry, one of the leading sectors in the export-based growth model, continues to be a source of pride for our country. Our textile apparel products sector exports reached 32 billion 885 million dollars in 2023. In the January-February period of 2024, this figure recorded as 5 billion 295 million dollars. As of 2023, our textile-apparel products sectors will account for 13 percent of our country's exports. The textile and apparel sector played an important role in Turkey's export-led growth ideal, which started 40 years ago. Textile and fashion are the cornerstones of this vision."
Support for Green Production from the Ministry
"Our textile and raw materials sector, which supports green production, has become one of the leading sectors by publishing the Sustainability Action Plan and Sustainability Road Map" said, Minister Bolat, and added, "As the Ministry of Commerce, we closely follow the adaptation progress to the sustainable and circular economy and take active responsibility. As a result of our work to specify and implement the awareness, road map, demand analysis and methods and targets that all our exporting companies, primarily our SMEs, may demand on such issues as resource, process and energy efficiency and digitalization, we implemented the Green Agreement Compliance Project Support two weeks ago. With the holistic support model created, the consultancy service expenses received by our companies will be supported by our Ministry of Commerce at a rate of 50 percent for 5 years and up to 10 million TL in total."
"The Market Will Gain Momentum"
Referring to the importance of the textile sector, Mustafa Gültepe, President of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), said, “Our textile and ready-made clothing sectors have a special place in the industrialization, development, employment and internationalization of this country. Industrialization in our country started with these two sectors. These two sectors headed the opening up to the outside world in the 80s. For years, these two sectors were at the top in exports. We are global players in both sectors. In textiles and ready-made clothing, which we cannot think of as separate from each other. We fell behind our targets in 2023 because we lost our competitiveness due to both the contraction in global markets and high cost increases. While observing the first two months of the year, we are behind our targets. Of course, this is not the result we would wish to achieve. But in trade terms, things do not always progress in the same direction. There may be ups and downs for the reasons beyond our control. Despite every challenge we may face, we keep our morale at high levels within this period. As a matter of fact, I can say with a confidence that the bad days are over. It has come to my attention that there has been a huge interest to the fifth Texhibition Fair as well. Of course, this great interest will have positive reflections on our exports. With the revival of global markets in the second half of the year, the bar will turn into our favour again in both our ready-made clothing and textile exports.’’
"We Will Focus on Exports"
With regards to the fair which organized by the Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters Association (İTKİB) Fuarcılık A.Ş. where 550 companies and 30 thousand professionals from more than 110 countries are expected to mark their presence at this year’s event, Ahmet Öksüz said, "With Texhibition, we have become one of the fairs that receive the most visitors in the world" said, Ahmet Öksüz and continued as follows; “In the last 4 years, we increased the share of our textile industry in exports from 2 percent to 3.5 percent. Although the year 2023 was difficult due to the contraction in global demand and the affects of the earthquake, we managed to maintain our market share in our largest markets such as the EU and the USA. We owe this to our fair, which we organized with the cooperation of the industry. We became one of the single textile fairs with the highest number of visitors in the world. To maintain our quality and to grow in a controlled manner; our biggest goal is to make our fair one of the most prestigious exhibitions in the world. I am sure that we can achieve our goals with the support we receive from all stakeholder institutions, primarily from our Minister of Trade We place our trust to our country and our industry. Data shows that the world is not sacrificing on textiles. It attaches importance to R&D and branding. We will continue to widespread the voice of our industry through branding and focused exporting in large amounts. I believe that our fair will be the meeting point of the global textile industry and will also contribute to the development of brand perception.”
