The Turkish textile industry, which is among the world’s largest textile exporters, experienced a 13.6% decrease in the first half of the year. In the January-June period of 2023, Turkish textile and raw materials sector exports, which were valued at 5.9 billion dollars, decreased by 22.1% to 953 million dollars in June 2023 and declined by 6.9% compared to the previous month and by 22.1% compared to June 2022. In the same period, Türkiye’s overall exports decreased by 10.5% to 20.9 billion dollars, while the share of textile and raw materials sector exports in Türkiye’s overall exports was announced as 4.6%. In this period, exports of industrial products declined by 13.4% to 14.9 billion dollars.
EU (27) countries maintained their first place in the exports of textile and raw materials in the January-June period of 2023. In this period, exports to EU (27) countries decreased by 22.5% compared to the same period in 2022 and amounted to 2.4 billion dollars. The second country group with the highest exports of textile and raw materials was African countries. Exports to African countries declined by 18.9% in this period and were recorded at 622 million dollars.
Exports in the January-June 2023 period in terms of quantity decreased by 9.2% and remained above 1.3 million tonnes. In this period, exports to EU countries declined by 20% and reached 483 thousand tonnes, while the second country group with the highest exports in terms of quantity was African countries with a share of 11% and 140 thousand tonnes.
Italy ranks first in Turkish textile exports with a 30% decrease
Analysing the leading export markets in Turkish textile and raw materials exports, the general decrease in the January-June period of 2023 compared to the same period of the previous year drew attention. In the January-June period of 2023, when the prominent countries in Turkish textile and raw materials exports were evaluated, Italy stood out as the most important export market. Exports of textiles and raw materials to Italy declined by 30% in this period and totalled 468 million dollars. Exports to Germany, which ranked second, decreased by 20.6% to 408 million dollars.
Top three items in exports: woven fabric, technical textiles and yarn
In the January-June period of 2023, when the exports of the Turkish textile and raw materials sector were analysed on the basis of product groups, the woven fabric product group stood out with a share of 21.2%. Woven fabric exports worth 1.2 billion dollars were generated in this period with a decrease of 7.8%. The most important sub-product group was woven fabrics from synthetic artificial filament yarns with a share of 39.8% and an export value of 496 million dollars.
In the same period, technical textiles, the second most exported product group, declined by 6.5% and the export value decreased to 1.1 billion dollars. In this period, 28.8% of total exports were nonwoven fabrics with a decrease of 18.2% and an export value of 325 million dollars.
Yarn product group ranked third in Türkiye’s textile and raw materials exports. In the January-June period of 2023, yarn exports declined by 24.3% to 1.1 billion dollars. The prominent sub-product group was yarns from synthetic artificial filament fibres with a share of 40.4% in total yarn exports and an export value of 429 million dollars.
In the January-June period of 2023, knitted fabric exports increased by 0.9% to 1 billion USD, while home textile exports decreased by 16.3% to 943 million USD and fibre exports declined by 11.3% to 526 million USD. In the same period, exports of the garment sub-industry increased by 6.3% to 311 million dollars.
According to the capacity utilisation report announced by the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye, the average capacity utilisation rate of the manufacturing industry for the last 12 months was 76.8%. In June 2023, the capacity utilisation rate, which was 70.7% in the manufacturing of textile products, decreased by 8.8% compared to June of the previous year. According to the data of the Turkish Statistical Institute, in April 2023, compared to the same month of the previous year, the manufacturing industry production index remained unchanged, while the textile industry production index decreased by 11.2%. While employment in textile and ready-to-wear sectors declined to 1 million 169 thousand in April 2023, total employment decreased by 4.6% compared to April 2022.