The highest name of authority in Turkish textile exports, President of Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Association (İTHİB) İsmailGülle, evaluated the Turkish textile industry to our Publishing Group. Gülle spoke upon their expectations from 2014, textile exports and referred to the China Textile products as a threat to the domestic market summarizing his speech stating that the two biggest problems of the Turkish Textile was; failure in branding and the inability of having a well-established textile exhibition.
The Textile Industry Started Well in 2014
The 2013 export target remained three points below the 10 percent threshold set by İTHİB explains Gülle and adds, “Our goal in export growth for 2014 is 10 percent, so far we have realized a growth above this rate. Surely the biggest reason is the upward increase experienced in the exchange rates. When we look at the past, whenever the exchange rate increased, an economic surge took place afterwards there has always been a significant growth in the textile industry. In this respect, the first half of 2014 for now has been one of our most productive periods.
Standing out as the most effective union with ongoing studies and activities, İTHİB is also performing meetings with associations of various countries. Recently having a meeting with the Japan Textile Federation, Gülle summed up their meeting with the Japanese business leaders: “ Japan is a country that carries out quality work in the textile field. Therefore, when added value and technology is considered in the sector, the Japanese are always needed. We invited representatives from the Japanese textile sector to a textile organization that will be held in Turkey and presented our offer of cooperation. Japan wants to import textiles from Turkey but we cannot sell too many products in this huge market. Last year the owner of one of Japan’s largest shopping chain came to Turkey with a goal of making 1 billon dollars amount of import. In this context, he made purchases and will continue to make. We created a good relationship with the Japanese textile manufacturers. When we catch this warm bond, we can create an infrastructure for beautiful collaborations. It may seem there is a far cross-country distance, but this warm bond minimizes the distances. In line with these relationships, compared to last year there has been a 50 percent increase in our exports.”
Fluctuations In The Exchange Rate Shouldn’t Be Excess
In Turkey, exporters are the ones that are mostly troubled by the fluctuations in the exchange rates mentions Gülle and adds; “A rise or a fall in the exchange rate harms the exporters.” Exchange rates necessarily change, but in a solid, stable economy, there shouldn’t be such high rates between these changes. It should be considered that import, export and borrowing, is realized through foreign currency. Exchange rates trying to be kept low under pressure can lead to greater harm especially in exports.”
All over the world in order for countries to export, they lower their money value states Gülle, “ United States and China are the biggest examples of this. China is resisting to the ‘value your money’ pressure in order to perform its export activities across the world. While there are examples of this type, I believe that this policy should be abandoned” he commented.
We Should Protect the Textile Sector
In the past, for his favoring efforts on applying quotas on Chinese textile products, severe reactions had been shown to him and his colleagues, reminds İsmailGülle, “Production remaining in the country has provided the largest contribution to the development of the sector. Today due to the intensity, we are facing a difficulty in finding clothing workshops to fulfill the job. Turkey’s infrastructure is strong enough to take it further. Turkey’s exports in the textile and apparel industry is 30 billion $ of worth. Naturally this is not sufficient for the country but other industries cannot catch up to this performance. The Turkish textile sector aims for increasing its success. As a country we should look after the industry.”
Quotas Applied in China Stimulated the Domestic Market
Gülle, referring to the issues; quotas applied in China and taxation, underlined that the real reason for the cheapness of Chinese products was a result from using insufficient material. Gülle pointed out that in tests commissioned by İTHİB, the presence of carcinogenic substances were found in the products brought in to the country from China at a very low cost and stressed that, seeing the detection of such goods in many famous companies products is regrettable. Gülle indicated that the duties applied on Chinese products, reduced its imports,” Decrease in imports, brought a vitality to the domestic market and textile manufacturers including small businesses began to work at full capacity. In fact, our production capacity has increased nearly 10 percent. The doors to new employment positions opened to 150 thousand people. We are glad to be located within such an efficient and intelligent carried out policy. It is satisfactory to know that we have led to this success.”
We Have The Potential To Create A Big Brand
Gülle underlined that, Turkey lacking to have a world-famous textile brand is a big deficiency and this stems from not having a massive economy and the firms shallow expectations on revenues and profits. To be a brand, investments and R&D efforts need to increase. Since 2005, the country has changed from being an outsourcing country, into preparing their creations and selling their own collections. A countries international image is important; Made in Italy is important for fabric whereas Made in Germany is very important for machinery. If the value of your country rises, the value of your companies and products will also rise. We can see that Turkey is not in the level of Italy. However we are manufacturing the fabrics of famous Italian brands. For how much we sell for one kilo, they charge the same price over meters. To break this loop we need branding. Or else this will continue as alike. We especially need government incentives on this subject. Surely, our industrialists should also make self-criticism to develop a visionary glance. Today, 15 percent of Italy’s exports are from textile. Although this figure is away from us when we look at it, we always have the capability to create the chance “ he evaluated.
Turkey Is In Need For A Big Textile Exhibition
The need to overcome the fact that the inability of the İTHİB members to attend to the Milan Unica exhibitions on the grounds of Turkey not being a member of the European Union, Gülle stated that, “ We intensified our relations with Milan. Our desire is to take place in the exhibition. And invite Italian companies to the exhibitions in Istanbul. Let’s create a reciprocal quota. As it had been in the Premiere Vision exhibition, with each year we want to increase the number of participants.” In order to capture the quality of exhibition industry in Turkey, selectivity should be enhanced, reveals Gülle, “Unfortunately the exhibition infrastructure in Turkey is not suitable enough to make a saturated business. Exhibitions are viewed as trade and the inability of making a distinction between participants can sometimes lose the importance of exhibitions. We are working on the remedy for this issue. In the interviews we started two years ago, we invited the Premiere Vision Exhibition to Turkey. This year this exhibition will be held in Istanbul. Names of the exhibitions are not important matters but we all agree that there should be a high quality, good exhibition in Turkey. Besides this fact, we are in need of an exhibition area that can handle a large organization and that we can be proud of” he concluded.
