Chemical Industry Sets $15.5 Billion Export Target for 2017

Chemical sector closed 2016 with USD 14 billion in exports

Chemistry, which sets the pulse of Turkish industry, became the third-largest exporting sector in 2016 after automotive and apparel-confectionery, with USD 14 billion in exports. Slowdown in global trade, growth in the European economy falling below expectations, losses in major export markets and ongoing instability in the Middle East emerged as factors negatively affecting chemical exports in 2016. Leaving behind a year shadowed by economic and political uncertainty, the chemical sector aims to achieve USD 15.5 billion in exports in 2017 by overcoming export contraction through new markets.

Murat Akyüz, Chairman of the Board of the Istanbul Chemical Substances and Products Exporters Association (İKMİB), evaluating the sector's 2016 export figures, said: "We left behind a year in which economic and political uncertainty was heavily felt.

Continued slowdown in global trade, recent developments in our neighboring region and ongoing losses in our major export markets strained our sector in 2016. The aircraft crisis with Russia, as well as Egypt and Iran, stood out as markets that troubled our exporters due to registration requirements. Despite all these challenges, we continued to be the country's third-largest exporting sector with USD 14 billion in exports. We offset some of the losses in markets critical to our sector through demand from EU countries, though not growing as rapidly as we expected. Demand from the US, another target market for chemicals, was also important for our sector. We balanced our disrupted exports by increasing our exports to markets such as Far East Asia, South America and sub-Saharan Africa. This once again demonstrated the importance of focusing on new markets to increase our exports," he said. Noting that 2017 is also expected to be challenging based on the global outlook, Murat Akyüz said: "We should not give in to pessimism against all internal and external negative factors; we should maintain our hope. We will continue our contribution to our country by working harder and producing more. The negative impact of oil prices on exports has begun to diminish, and we hope this continues and is reflected in the figures. We will also begin to see the impact of incentives supporting exporters within this year. Financing is an important problem for our exporters. The Export Credit Guarantee Fund, which will facilitate access to financing, is critical in this respect. It would be beneficial for our exporters to act cautiously against sudden currency fluctuations and to balance risks. A barter system instead of cash will be effective in reducing currency risks."