Kahramanmaraş Textile Sector Competes with the World

Thanks to its geographical position, Kahramanmaraş plays a key role in the Turkish economy by serving as a bridge between important commercial cities with its industrial and commercial infrastructure. Hosting numerous medium and large-scaled enterprises in the industrial sector, Kahramanmaraş offers a huge employment opportunity for its population. With the investments made after 1984, industrialisation in the city generally focused on textile sector. Kahramanmaraş’s economic growth model consists of investment, production, employment and export.

Organisations will Carry the Sector One Step Further

In the upcoming years, 35 % of the yarn production and 10 % of the weaving are carried out in Kahramanmaraş which will be the centre of not only textile sector but also fashion world in Turkey. The technology and quality level reached in the textile sector of the city can easily compete with the world market along the Turkish market. The number of high level discussions, bilateral cooperations and trade activities is increasing every day in order to carry the sector in Kahramanmaraş one step further. In 2013, International Textile Summit which lasted for 3 days was held in cooperation with KMTSO and DOĞAKA and local and foreign businessmen, academicians and civil society organisations were gathered. Within the scope of the summit, the representatives of the sector held panels and made presentations on marketing, production, technology, human resources and energy. Besides, the activities that will increase commercial mobility in and make important contributions to the city will continue with KTM 2014 Textile Machinery Fair to be held on 23-25 October 2014. Therefore the city continues attracting interest in both domestic and foreign textile markets.

In Kahramanmaraş where the investments have amounted to $5 billion since 2005, the industrial income obtained exceeds 6 billion Turkish Liras every year. In Kahramanmaraş hosting investment champions every year, the total amount of investments has reached $ 4.8 billion, $ 3.4 billion of which is the amount of completed investments while $ 1.36 billion of which equals to the amount of ongoing investments. 40 % of the completed investments were used by the textile sector. In the field of employment, positive developments stand out. The number of people employed reached 97.471 by an increase of 4 % by the end of 2013 while it was 93.810 as of the end of 2012. As of March 2014, this number was 98.463. About 70 % of those employed work in the textile sector.

Targetted Export Volume is $ 5 Billion

Kahramanmaraş export approximately $ 1 billion out of its annual industrial income amounting to $ 6 billion. 80 % of this export volume is realized by the textile sector alone. Textile export volume of Kahramanmaraş in 2013 had recorded an increase of 6 % in comparison to the previous year.  It is seen that export volume of the first quarter of 2014 reached $ 229 million with an increase of 3.5 % in comparison to the same period of the previous year. Ranking 20^th in the list of export volumes by the cities, Kahramanmaraş is planning to reach an export volume of $ 5 billion in its target for 2023. The first five countries to which the products are exported at the most include Italy, Iraq, Brasil, Egypt and Germany.

Textile Companies That Received Investment Incentive Certificare in Kahramanmaraş between January 2013 and April 2014