The Turkish textile sector, suffering from serious losses in export markets, has come into conflict with the apparel sector due to an important issue regarding imports. With the Presidential Decree published in the Official Gazette dated October 16, 2023, the Additional Customs Duties (ACD) applied in the Textile and Apparel sectors were increased. According to the decree, the IGVs were increased by approximately 5 points in the yarn sector, 7 points in the fabric sector and 9 points in the apparel sector. It was stated that the additional customs duties to be applied on imports of the product group originating from the United Arab Emirates will remain the same as the additional customs duties rates published on August 30, 2023. The new regulation on additional customs duties had different repercussions in the textile and apparel sectors. While textile manufacturers reacted positively to the new decision, the apparel industry criticized the decision.
Textile and raw material exporters happy with additional customs duties
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters’ Association (ITHIB) Ahmet Öksüz commented on the issue as follows: “Additional Customs Duty rates in our textile sector have been updated upwards in accordance with our demand against unfair competition in imports, disrupting domestic market production, creating employment loss, and causing our facilities established with billions of dollars of investments to remain idle. I would like to thank especially our President Recep Tayyip ERDOĞAN, our Minister of Trade Prof. Dr. Ömer BOLAT and all the bureaucrats of the Ministry, who took our request into consideration and ensured that it was resolved quickly and allowed our sector to breathe. We continue to work for more employment, more production and more exports without slowing down!”
“A wrong decision must be canceled immediately”
By saying: “We are shooting ourselves in the foot”, the President of the Aegean Apparel and Apparel Exporters’ Association Burak Sertbaş reacted to the additional customs duties imposed on yarn, fabric, apparel and home textile products and noted: “A wrong decision must be canceled immediately.”
Emphasizing that the sector representatives come together to make decisions concerning the sectors in general, Sertbaş continued his words as follows: “In the past, we used to take vital decisions together. We could have taken this decision in consultation with all stakeholders. This decision may provide a temporary improvement in the current conditions of the textile and raw materials sector; however, it will cause great damage to the apparel sector, which exports value-added products.”
With the decision published in the Official Gazette, the additional customs duty rate in yarns increased from 10 percent to 13 percent, and the rate of 20 percent in fabrics increased to 27 percent. The rate of 30 percent in apparel products was increased to 39 percent and the rate of 20 percent in home textile products was increased to 29 percent. In the apparel sector, the new regulation in the rates of additional customs duties was implemented as follows: In Chapter 60, the additional customs duty on knitted goods was increased to 27 percent, while the customs duty on 182 products in knitted apparel and accessories placed in Chapter 61 was increased to 39 percent, 292 products in non-knitted apparel and accessories placed in Chapter 62 were increased to 39 percent, and finally, additional customs duties were increased to 39 percent on 83 products in apparel made of woven materials placed in Chapter 63. The decision will enter into force 30 days after its date of publication.