Progressing as on againg off again relationship lately, Germany – Turkey dialogue has actually very strong roots. These very intense political, social, cultural and economical relations connect the two countries together.
Turkey is now having a problematic political phase with Germany which has been its strong partner for long years. The political statement getting more agressive, carries the risk of dangering two countries’ relations. So, what kind of a commercial relation between these two countries? More distinctively, how is our textile and garment trade with Germany?
Possessing 3 trillion 850 billion dollar national income, German economy proved once againg that it is the engine power of its region by growing 1,9% in 2016. According to the data from Germany Federal Statistics Office(Destatis) Germany is now the biggest economy of Europe with 950 billion Euro import and almost 2 trillion Euro export power in 2015. Having the 5th biggest economy of the world, Germany made 114 billion Euro export to USA and made the most export to China around 92 billion Euro.
Beginning in the 16th century, our political relations with Germany turned into avery intense economic and social relatinships network in time. One of the most important commercial partners of Turkey, our relations with Germany can be summarized thusly; Turkey is the 14th country where Germany makes the most export and the 17th country where it makes the most import. Germany made export valued 22,4 billion Euro in Turkey in 2016 as well as making 14,4 billion Euro import. Germany’s share in Turkey’s general export is 10%.
SME’s (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises) Are Dominant in German Textile Sector
It is seen that SME firms are dense in Germany’s textile sector. Defining the companies whose total turnover don’t outrun 500 million Euro and having a total employee number less than 250, SME’s form 90% of German textile and garment sector. German National Bank(Deutsche Bank) datas show that German textile and garment sector tend to downsize and import from Asian countries with cheaper manufacturing conditions are preferred. In addşton to this, Germany gains more recognition in technical textiles. Germany gains more than half of its total textile turnover from technical textile sales.
While Germany made export of textile and raw materials product valued 15 billion dollars, there was an import of almost 13 billion dollars. They made the most textile import to China, Italy, Turkey, Netherlands and Poland where Turkey is the 3rdbiggest textile provider with import value reaching to 938 million dollars with 7,4% share and 512,5 regression. Turkey has 5,2% share in Germany’s yarn import, 8,9% in weaving fabric, 9,7% in knitting fabric, 15,6% in home textile import and only 2,2% share in technical textiles import.
Germany Has 10% Share in Turkey’s Textile Export
While Germany had 9,9% share in Turkey’s total export valued 117 billion dollars in 2016 January-October period; had 10,9% share in total import of 163 billion dollars at the same term. In Turkey’s textile and raw materials export valued almost 8 billion dollars in September-October 2016; Germany’s share was 8,7% and 4,7% in 7 billion dollars in import. In the same period, Germany took 18,1% share in 12,5 billion dolars garment and readywear export; and got 1% share of 2 billion dollars import.
In 2016 January-October term; the total export made to Germany was 5% rate textile and raw material products; and 19% rate garment and readywear products. The share of raw materials in total import to Germany was 1,9%; where the share of readywear and garment products were 0,1%. Germany is an irreplaceable partner of Turkey especially in textile and garment sectors. It is the the 2nd biggest export market of Turkey; among its 169 markets with 690 million dollars of worth. In Turkey’s import Germany is in the 6th place with 338 million dollars level.
Considering Turkish investments in Germany and German investments in Turkey; creating a very important fund and business volume in total, we can say this very clearly; becoming an irreplaceable partners for each others; Turkey and Germany have strong roots that are able to overcome the temporary political battles.