Textile exports continue to increase despite pandemic. The Turkish textile and raw materials industry experienced the shocking effect of the Covid-19 pandemic in the export markets in the first half of 2020 and managed to enter a rapid recovery process. In the January-June period of 2020, the total exports of the textile industry were recorded as 4.1 billion dollars, down by 17.4% compared to the same period of the previous year. On the basis of June alone, textile exports increased by 19.8% compared to the previous year to 766 million dollars. Turkey’s overall exports in the first half of the year increased by 15.8% to 13.5 billion dollars.
Looking at the export performance of the textile industry on a monthly basis, the promising development attracts attention. After the increases in January and February, there was a sharp decline by 17% in March and 44.4% in April, when the pandemic began to take effect. The shock landing encountered a quick fix of 15% in May. This uptrend continued in June, with an increase of 42.7%.
The exports of the sector showed a similar fluctuation in terms of quantity. In the January-June period of 2020, quantity-based exports decreased by 14.3% to 999 thousand tons. The amount of exports realized only in June has increased by 16.3%.
Textile exports continue to increase despite pandemic: exports increased in major markets in June
The highest textile and raw material exports were made to 28 EU countries in June. This exports amounted to 410 million dollars, an increase of 23.9%. On a 6-month basis, exports to the EU fell 18.5% to 2 billion dollars. Exports to other European countries also reached 11 million dollars in June, up 144.9%.
Exports to the Old East Bloc Countries, the second largest market in the sector, increased by 37.2% in June to 87 million dollars. In the context of the January-June period of 2020, our textile exports to this market decreased by 10.9% to 431 million dollars.
In June, our textile exports to the Middle East countries increased by 8.1% to 56 million dollars. On the basis of the first half of the year, our exports to this market decreased by 21.2% to 383 million dollars. In June, an increase of 43.4% was achieved in our textile exports to the Turkic Republics.
The markets, which declined in June, are listed as African countries 7.8%, Asian and Oceania countries %6.9.
Textile exports to Germany increased by 65.8%
As the most important export country of the Turkish textile industry, Germany has been maintaining its place for years. In June, our exports to Germany increased by 65.8% to 85 million dollars. Exports in the first 6 months of the year decreased by 2.9% to 397 million dollars.
The second important export country of the sector was Italy. Exports to Italy in June decreased by 4.1% to 60 million dollars, while the value in January-June decreased by 25.8% to 320 million dollars.
Exports to the USA, the third largest market of the textile industry, increased by 37.1% in June to 45 million dollars. Exports to this country fell 8.4% to 245 million dollars in the January-June period. In this period, exports to the UK fell by 21.5% to 181 million dollars; while exports only increased by 29.4% to 40 million dollars, based on June. Among the top ten countries, Bulgaria was the 5th country in which our exports decreased the most. Our exports to Bulgaria in the January-June period fell by 31.5% to 154 million dollars.
Technical textiles became the most important export product
In the January-June 2020 period, the most important export product of the Turkish textile industry was ‘technical textiles included in the textile industry’. This product group, which constitutes 27.2% of total textile exports; increased by 43.9% compared to the same period of the previous year and reached 1.1 billion dollars. The export of technical textiles products in June was calculated as 318 million dollars with an increase of 202%.
The second most important product group in exports was woven fabrics with a 20% share. Exports of woven fabrics, which decreased by 30.7% to 823 million dollars in the first 6 months of the year, reached 151 million dollars in June, up 4.5%. The yarn product group ranked third in exports with a 16% share. The yarn product group; which was able to achieve a value of 661 million dollars by decreasing 28.8% in the January-June 2020 period; recorded a performance of 102 million dollars in June with a 13% decrease.
The fiber exports of the sector decreased by 16.5% in the first 6 months of the year and reached 178 million dollars; and in June it decreased by 0.8% and reached the value of 40 million dollars.