The Turkish textile and raw materials sector, exporting 12.9 billion dollars in 2022, declined to 12.6 billion dollars in 2023. According to the Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters’ Association (ITHIB) report, Turkish textile and raw materials sector exports decreased by 6.2% to 927 million dollars in December 2023. The share of the textile sector in Türkiye’s overall exports in December was announced as 4%. In 2023, Türkiye’s overall exports increased by 0.6% and reached 255.8 billion dollars. In this period, exports of industrial products decreased by 2.6% with a value of 180.8 billion dollars.
In 2023, the highest exports of textile and raw materials continued to be made to the EU (27) countries. Exports to the EU (27) countries decreased by 17.6% compared to the same period of 2022, recording 4.6 billion dollars. In 2023, the second country group to which Türkiye exported the most textile and raw materials was African countries. Exports to African countries decreased by 11.6% in this period and were recorded as 1.2 billion dollars.
In 2023, exports in quantity terms decreased by 0.8% and exceeded 2.6 million tonnes in this period. In this regard, exports to EU countries in quantity decreased by 13.6% to 951 thousand tonnes. In the same period, the second country group with the highest exports in quantity was Middle Eastern countries with a share of 11.5% and 308 thousand tonnes.
The rising market of Turkish textile exports: Iran
Although textile and raw materials exports to Italy decreased by 24.9% in December and reached approximately 847 million dollars, the country maintained its most important market position in 2023. In this period, Germany was the second country with the highest exports of textile and raw materials. Turkish textile and raw materials exports to Germany decreased by 18.6% and totalled approximately 803 million dollars.
Considering the countries to which the sector exports the most, a general decrease was observed in the export markets of the Turkish textile and raw materials sector in December 2023 compared to the same period of the previous year. While there was a 6.2% decrease in total exports in December, Iran stood out with an increase of 29.9% in the same period.
Woven fabric maintains its importance in exports
In December 2023, the most important product group in Turkish textile and raw materials sector exports was the woven fabric product group with a share of 20.6%. In the sub-product groups of woven fabric exports, the most important position was taken by the export of woven fabrics from synthetic artificial filament yarns with a share of 40.3% and an export value of 968 million dollars. Technical textiles, the second most exported product group in December, decreased by 7.1% and the export value was 2.2 billion dollars. Considering technical textile exports, 30.3% of total exports in 2023 was non-woven textile product group. In the same period, Türkiye’s nonwovens exports decreased by 13.4% to 664 million dollars.
Exports of yarn, the third most important product group, decreased by 17.1% in December 2023 with a value of approximately 2 billion dollars. In the same period, the most important sub-product group in yarn exports was yarns from synthetic artificial filament fibres with an export value of 817 million dollars. The share of this product group in total yarn exports was 38.9%. Exports of yarns from synthetic-artificial non-continuous fibres, the second largest sub-product group with a share of 31.8% in total yarn exports, decreased by 14% in 2023 and amounted to 668 million dollars.
In December 2023, knitted fabric exports decreased by 5.9% to 1.9 billion dollars, while home textiles decreased by 14.4% to approximately 1.9 billion dollars. In the same period, exports of fibre, one of the sub-product groups that increased, increased by 4.4% and reached 1.2 billion dollars. Exports of garment sub-industry, another rising sub-product group, increased by 6.1% to 608 million dollars.