Western Mediterranean Region Achieves $2.2 Billion in Exports

Western Mediterranean Records USD 2.2 Billion in Exports Exports from Western Mediterranean have reached 2 billion 200 million dollars. BAİB Chairman Ümit Mirza Çavuşoğlu stated, "For the first time this month, Russia and Ukraine are showing only minimal growth compared to the same period last year. Until now, we had been tracking well below last year's figures for Russia and Ukraine, but as of now we have caught up."

Significant increase in chemical substances exports

Çavuşoğlu noted that fresh fruits and vegetables, mining, wood products, chemical substances and ferrous and non-ferrous products share the top positions in exports, adding that among these top five sectors, chemical substances are the most encouraging. He continued as follows: "There has been a significant increase in chemical substances. It has risen to approximately 220 million dollars. In other sectors, there are only minor increases or declines, and efforts are being made to compensate for these." [caption id="attachment_146551" align="aligncenter"] BAİB Chairman Ümit Mirza Çavuşoğlu[/caption]

Çavuşoğlu shared that Germany leads in exports, stating:

"Germany is in first place, followed by China, and then Russia. We have only a slight increase to Russia, but we are experiencing a regional decline in Germany and China. We experienced a significant decline especially in China, the reason being that our region exports marble to China. China is not only ignoring us but all countries due to the slowdown or halt in construction, and therefore they are not importing from us. To offset this, we are making serious efforts in other countries regarding marble exports. We are trying to partially compensate for our losses in the Indian market and China. Despite the losses in China, as a result of efforts by our exporters and delegations on our part in all countries, we have turned our mining losses into gains, and our goal here is to reach much higher levels."  

We expect the shortage in the Netherlands to lead to an increase for us

"10-15 days ago we conducted a trade delegation to South Korea in the areas of vegetable oils and cosmetics, and we are now beginning to see positive results, and we are also awaiting their commercial returns. Through such delegations and URGE projects, we are trying to increase our exports. We are expecting contractions in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands. We estimate a production deficit in the range of 30-40 percent. Belgium follows that. Belgium is not as strong as the Netherlands, but there are declines there as well. Actually, there is no major problem in the southern regions of Europe. Just like our region, it is done without requiring much energy. We expect this shortage in the Netherlands will lead to an increase for us. There is serious demand. Particularly, there is demand for tomatoes, and to meet this, both our producers and exporters made the necessary preparations months in advance. We expect serious increases in our production. After meeting domestic needs, we aim to generate export revenue from our surplus products."

"With the onset of cold weather, we expect demand to increase somewhat from now on"

Çavuşoğlu stated that tomato production is at a good level and that they plan balanced exports to Russia and Europe, saying, "We do not expect any problems with tomatoes. Our production is at a very good level, in this regard we are planning to export tomatoes in a fairly balanced manner to both Russia and Europe and our nearby regions. There are different demands for tomatoes; what Europe consumes is very different from what Russia consumes. We think Russia and Europe will come first. In terms of price, we are not at very high levels in tomatoes right now. We are at the levels we expected; it looks normal both in the domestic market and abroad. Within approximately 10-15 days, there is not much major demand coming from Europe. The weather in Europe was going very well until the last 2-3 days. In that case, products outdoors continue without much energy requirement. However, with the onset of cold weather over the last few days, we expect demand to increase somewhat from now on."