Chemical Sector Continues Export Growth in October

According to data from the Istanbul Chemical Substances and Products Exporters Association (İKMİB), the chemicals sector's October 2019 exports reached USD 1.93 billion. The sector's ten-month exports continued their upward trend, reaching USD 17 billion. Through its East Asia expansion in exports, the chemicals sector grew 18% over ten months. By the number of countries to which sectors export, the chemicals sector ranked first with exports to 205 countries and regions. Istanbul Chemical Substances and Products Exporters Association (İKMİB) Board Chairman Adil Pelister said: "Our chemicals sector continues to increase its exports. We are seeing the impact of our work targeting destination countries such as East Asia and the United States. Our chemicals sector exports in October reached USD 1.93 billion. Over the ten-month period, our sector's exports reached USD 17 billion. We also continue to be the second-largest exporting sector for ten consecutive months. We are working at a rapid pace to reach our year-end target of USD 20 billion. On one hand, we are conducting sectoral workshops to determine roadmaps for our subsectors, while on the other hand we are organizing trade delegation missions. We held the "Dissemination Event" of the polynSPIRE Project, which is supported under Horizon 2020, Europe's largest civilian research and development programme, in Istanbul. The project aims to develop innovative technologies for plastic recycling. In addition, we held paints and coatings sector and rubber sector workshops in October. We conducted our first Sectoral Trade Delegation in the Mineral Oils Sector in Kazakhstan. We also implemented our Turkey Promotion Group Mineral Oils Promotion Project, which is the first TTG project within our association, in Kazakhstan. On 27-30 November 2019, we will organize our buyer delegation at Putech Eurasia 2019 Fair. Our country's development and sustainable economy have all the power required, as long as we act with unity and solidarity. We will continue to work, produce and increase our exports." he said. Iraq became the top exporting destination in October. Other countries in the top ten following Iraq in October were Italy, the United States, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, Egypt, Germany, Belgium and Lebanon. Chemical exports to Iraq in October 2019 reached USD 119.595 million. In October, the main exports to Iraq were "plastics and products," "fertilisers," "essential oils, cosmetics and soap," "paints, varnishes, inks and preparations," "washing preparations," "pharmaceutical products," "miscellaneous chemical substances," "mineral fuels, mineral oils and products," "adhesives, glues, enzymes," "inorganic chemicals," "rubber and rubber products." Ten-month chemical exports to Iraq this year reached USD 820.059 million. Among the countries with the highest chemical exports in the January-October 2019 period, the Netherlands, Italy, Iraq, Spain, Germany, Egypt, the United States, Malta, Greece and the United Kingdom ranked in the top ten. In October, among subsectors, mineral fuels, mineral oils and products exports ranked first in chemical exports with USD 612.280141 million. Plastics and products ranked second with USD 543.259286 million in exports, while inorganic chemicals exports ranked third with USD 170.135231 million. Other sectors in the top ten following inorganic chemicals were: "rubber and rubber products," "essential oils, cosmetics and soap," "pharmaceutical products," "paints, varnishes, inks and preparations," "miscellaneous chemical substances," "fertilisers" and "organic chemicals."