The leading representation companies shared their expectations for 2015 and their assessments for 2014 with Textile World Magazine Group.
Haluk Erbel – Erbel
Haluk Erbel, Chairman of the Board of Erbel which is one of the leading representation companies in Turkey, said that the textile exports reached at 4.5 billion dollars with an increase of 8.7 percent compared to the previous year in the first half of 2014. Mr. Erbel stated that this figure is very good in terms of Turkey's overall exports, and the textile sector reached at 9.5 billion dollars at the end of the year. Saying that the export growth in the last 4 years in the textile industry met the expectations, Mr. Erbel said that the currency fluctuations reflected the sector in both positive and negative direction.
Stating that the company showed great performance during the period 2010-2013, Mr. Erbel expressed: "This process continued until first half of 2014 and started to slow down as of mid-year and returned to normal process. Sudden rise in cotton prices affected negatively the accounts of many companies until they sold their cotton stocks. As a result, the year 2014 was stable compared to the previous years.”
“There are a lot of issues such as the developments in the foreign exchange rates, the monetary policies of the countries, the interest rate developments, the situation of the countries where we export textile products, the raw material prices, and the election, which can influence negatively the textile sector.” said Mr. Erbel and he added that "Turkey has a growth target of 5 percent, and we expect to reach this kind of target in the textile sector. In 2015, the prices will be reduced, the tendency to value-added products will gain more importance and we need to work intensively in order to reach our targets during this year.
Kudret Çelebi – Tetaş
Kudret Çelebi, Sales Manager of Tetaş İç ve Dış Ticaret A.Ş which was established in 1982 in order to serve for confectionery machinery industry, said that the political and economic problems experienced in Ukraine- Russia and Arab countries in 2014 affected negatively the indirect exports; and the manufacturing firms stopped their investments because of these problems. Mr. Çelebi stated that the sales of the firms exporting to Europe and America increase and that the investments for 6th and 5th investment incentive areas continue thanks to these increases.
Mr. Çelebe pointed out to the fact that: "In 2014, we did not have very high expectations because of the problems experienced in the surrounding territories, but new projects such as Tajima Embroidery Machines, Tesan Cutter Machines, Gemini Cad systems helped us to reach our targets." and he also added that: " The year 2015 will be exhausting and stressful as the last two years."
Selim Sarfati - AlfredoModiano
Selim Sarfati, one of the partners of Alfredo Modiano, which is representative of the world's leading textile machinery manufacturers, stated that: "Last year was productive in terms of firms for which we operated as representative. Investments were made in line with our expectations, we reached our targets in spinning, weaving and dyeing fields.”
Stating that there were a lot of investments in the textile sector, Mr. Sarfati said that the investments for cotton and acrylic were made especially in Gaziantep and Kahramanmaraş while the investments for home textiles in the weaving industry were made especially in Bursa and Denizli. Mr. Sarfati expressed that they reached high sales volumes thanks to the washing lines and transfer printing machines in the dye finishing market in 2014.
Saying that the year 2014 was productive for Savio and Itema brands, Mr. Sarfati stated that: “We were able to make Savio successful in cotton projects. We opened our Kahramanmaraş Modiano Technical Services branch in October in order to provide our customers fast and quality services and strengthen Savio and the other brands for which we operate as representative. We will provide technical service and spare parts from this branch.”
Stating that the year 2015 is very important for them because of ITMA which will be organized in November, Mr. Sarfati pointed out to the fact that: "I think that 2015 will be a year during which the growth will continue in terms of both the textile production and investment for machinery.
Erdinç Dinçer- Benninger Dinçer
Chairman of Board of Benninger Dinçer, which is one of the leading representation companies in Turkey and operates as representative for Benninger AG, EVS, Smartec ve Pozzi Leopoldo, Erdinç Dinçer said that they don’t expect problems for 2015 and he added that: "As Benninger Dinçer, we are hopeful for textile sector in 2015. Our customers invest the machines which increase the added value and they will continue to invest. The features of the machines sold indicate this situation.”
Mr. Dinçer said that "The textile sector ranks second according to the total export volumes of Turkey. Thanks to the economic difficulties experienced in the past year in Europe, especially with the adverse impact in the textile production in these regions, our textile sector became the most powerful textile manufacturer in Europe. Showing considerable progress with its high quality production and quick delivery for the order of all sizes, our textile sector became the most powerful manufacturer following China and India. Saying that Turkey is a dynamic country and experienced more difficult situations before, Mr. Dinçer stated that they believe that the year 2015 will be very productive for the textile sector.
