Uludağ Textile Exporters' Association (UTİB), which was established within Uludağ Exporters' Association in 1986 in Bursa, exports more than 180 countries including Russia, Germany, Romania, Iran, Great Britain, Italy and Poland. UTİB, which reached 1 billion 352 million dollars total export value at the end of 2013, is a model for the textile sector and the other leading sectors thanks to its projects and activities conducted by nearly 1,200 members as the year of 2014. İbrahim Burkay, Chairman of UTIB and one of the architects of this success achieved by Uludağ Textile Exporters' Association, answered the questions of our Magazine Group.
Stating that the year 2013 was very successful for Uludağ Textile Exporters' Association, İbrahim Burkay expressed that they finished last year above their target. Stating that they will continue to organize such activities as conferences, workshops, International R & D Project Market, the national participation in international fairs, purchasing committees, trend areas, seminars, industrial publications, Burkay expressed that their achievements will increasingly continue with the entry into the market and promotional activities as well as market diversification activities in both traditional markets and new markets.
Indispensable Points of Turkish Textile
Stating that the textile and garment sector, which is considered as "it will collapse soon or later" stood out with its current account surplus reached 15.2 billion dollars last year while overcoming the current account deficit problem, which is weakness of Turkey's economy, is discussed on almost any platform, Burkay emphasized the importance of the branding in order to advance further in the textile and avoid outsource production. "In the 1980s and 1990s, we were making designs, but we were mostly following the designs of such countries as Italy, France, and England. As a result of our experience, which has increased for years, Turkey reached the position shown and followed as a model with its successful brands in the fields of design and fashion in the world textile industry. One of our targets that we have worked for years was to reach that situation.’’ said Burkay. He also added that the production, the use and the sustainability of high value added garments and technical textiles are indispensable for Turkish textile sector.
Importance of R & D
Stating that the positive developments in terms of the increase of the resources allocated to R & D have been seen in our country especially in the last 10 years, Burkay also expressed that it is targeted to allocate 3 percent of national income to R & D in 2023, and 2 per cent of this budget will be allocated by the private sector. Expressing that they believe that these developments will be impetus for the studies conducted in order to reach the level of developed countries, Burkay continued his speech as follows: "We continue to conduct our studies on such issues as commercialization of inventions, increasing pre-competitive collaborations, more efficient use of R&D incentive mechanisms. Thus, we can diversify our range of product in the world market. Our R & D project market that we have organized for six years is considered as a role model in Turkey and the other sectors started to organize this activity as well. These activities are a joint investment made in Turkey's future.”
“We need to concentrate all our efforts on reforms which will increase total factor productivity in order to achieve a high rate of growth. The most effective way to increase this productivity is to give importance to research, development and innovation activities as well. Innovation includes three main components: science, technology and design. The average cost of design is at the level of 5 percent while its contribution to the sales value is at the level of 70 per cent." expressed Burkay continued his speech as follows: "Turkey needs to increase factor productivity in all areas in order to resolve its current account deficit and weaknesses. In the textile industry, the way of increasing the factor efficiency is innovation, science and technology. The textile industry should also make its own contribution and keep up with the changes in order that our economic structure turns into a knowledge economy. Therefore, the most basic need is to provide effective coordination and co-operation among stakeholders of the textile industry.”
We Showed a Successful Performance in 2013
Pointing out to the fact that economic, financial and geopolitical movements and risks change constantly, Burkay stated that such issues as the collapse of the Eurozone, financial crisis in the USA, the public debt crisis in Japan affect the economy of countries. Expressing that there is a decline in such risks, Burkay said: "In 2013, one of the biggest achievements in our country was reached in budget execution. The main cause of the budget deficit which remained low despite of Social security contributions, the health and welfare supports was the increase in taxes and income. It is necessary to study on such issues as unemployment, inflation and current account deficit. The fact that the growth remained at the level of 4 per cent despite the deceleration in the economy can be considered as success. Considering the internal, external, political and economic events experienced in 2013, we can say that Turkey's economy showed a successful performance despite the many problems encountered during the year 2013.”
Emphasized that it is necessary to increase investments and exports in order to reach higher figures, Burkay said that they should analyze all of the sectors at macro and micro levels for sustainable growth, productive investments and exportation and that they should carefully follow the industry-specific conditions, the global developments and the important developments in target markets. Saying that they should ensure that the energy costs do not negatively impact the competitiveness of exporters, Burkay finished his speech as follows: "With R&D and innovations, we should ensure that our firms show more interest these supports. The studies in this area should be regularly updated by evaluating Inward Processing Regime, support programs, investment incentives applications, current status and sector effects of trade policy defence instruments. In addition, we will continue to study in order to reduce our foreign dependency in the supply of raw materials.”
