Virtual and Physical Trade Fair Held on the Same Day

Turkey's Exporters Assembly (TİM), under the coordination of the Ministry of Commerce and organized by the Istanbul Furniture, Paper and Forest Products Exporters Associations, opened the "Furnistry 2020 Virtual Fair," the furniture sector's first virtual fair in China, and the "CIFF 2020 International Furniture Fair," the first physical and national participation fair held during the pandemic. TİM Chairman İsmail Gülle stated, "As the export family, both in the field and virtually, we are working for a Rising Turkey Through Exports. Turkish exporters, particularly in the furniture sector, have the power to bring the Far East closer with value-added products," he said. Istanbul Furniture, Paper and Forest Products Exporters Association Chairman Ahmet Güleç stated, "Our June and July performance shows we will reach approximately 4 billion dollars this year. We aim to increase the average per-kilogram sales price from 2.8 dollars to 7 dollars. Turkey's Exporters Assembly (TİM), the single roof organization for exports in Turkey with 61 exporter associations, 27 sectors and 95,000 exporters, continues to support exporters during the Covid-19 process through its New Generation Trade Diplomacy activities. The online opening of the furniture sector's first virtual fair based in China "Furnistry 2020 Virtual Fair" and the "CIFF 2020 International Furniture Fair," the first national and physical participation fair during the pandemic period held in China, was conducted

under the coordination of the Ministry of Commerce with TİM and Istanbul Furniture, Paper and Forest Products Exporters Associations organization.

"Furnistry 2020 Virtual Fair" brought together Turkey's leading 50 furniture companies with international buyers for B2B business meetings between 27-30 July, while exporters showed national participation for the 11th time in the physically held "CIFF 2020 International Furniture Fair" in China. At the "CIFF 2020 International Furniture Fair," originally planned for 18-21 March but postponed to 27-30 July due to the pandemic, 45 exporter companies displayed their products in 4,000 square meters of space, while reaching the entire world through the virtual fair from different locations in Turkey. The opening was attended by Deputy Minister of Commerce Rıza Tuna Turagay, Turkish Ambassador to Beijing Abdülkadir Emin Önen, TİM Chairman İsmail Gülle and Istanbul Furniture, Paper and Forest Products Exporters Association Chairman Ahmet Güleç.

We continued to lead firsts during the pandemic period

Speaking at the opening, TİM Chairman İsmail Gülle noted that TİM had previously recognized the importance of digitalization, which became the world's top agenda with the pandemic, and completed TİM's digital transformation. Gülle continued his remarks as follows: "With our Digital Transformation Office, we moved our operations to digital. Through the AloTİM Call Center, we respond to our exporters' questions and problems on a 24/7 basis. With our new generation website and application, we provide our exporters with reports on our target markets, news about our markets and current export figures. As the Turkey's Exporters Assembly, we continued to lead firsts during the pandemic period. We continue our trade diplomacy activities through the first Virtual Trade Delegations, Virtual Fairs, Virtual Award Ceremonies, Export Talks Meetings and soon to be organized virtual competitions. Our Ministry of Commerce has always been by the side of the export family throughout this process and has always supported us. On behalf of our over 95,000 exporters, I extend my thanks to our Ministry for all this support. As the export family, both in the field and virtually, we are working for a Rising Turkey Through Exports."

Furniture sector exceeded pre-pandemic exports in June

Gülle noted that China's product profile for production and imports is rapidly changing due to the effects of globalization, saying "Turkish exporters, particularly in the furniture sector, have the power to bring the Far East closer with value-added products. Furniture, with 3.5 billion dollars in exports, ranks among the products with which we generate the highest trade surplus. Over the last 10 years, furniture exports for aircraft increased 65-fold, while bed exports increased 5.5-fold and wooden frame furniture exports increased 3-fold. Our furniture sector, in June which we left behind, increased its exports by approximately 50 percent, surpassing even pre-pandemic export levels. With our Turkey Promotion Group, we are implementing the Video Mapping Promotion of Turkish Furniture and Turkey Furniture Design Promotion projects in 2020. Through these projects, we are adding value to the Turkish furniture brand perception. We firmly believe that in the coming period, our furniture manufacturers will multiply production and export figures with their innovative vision," he said. We increased our exports to China by 150 percent and this increase will continue to multiply Istanbul Furniture, Paper and Forest Products Exporters Association Chairman Ahmet Güleç stated, "Today we are realizing two firsts together with the opening of the 45th China International Furniture Fair CIFF and the first Furniture Virtual Fair Furnistry 2020. With our 45 companies as Turkey's national participation, we took our place in this first physical fair of the sector in 4,000 square meters. After the epidemic, the furniture sector carried out Turkey's first national participation organization, and thank goodness, and here we had the opportunity to show our peers from all over the world how strong the Turkish furniture sector is. Our sector, which today provides employment to an indirect 500,000 people, is a strategic sector friendly to production, employment and local development. Not only for the domestic market, but when compared with world markets, our sector, which surpasses many countries such as Spain, Sweden and Denmark that stand out with their furniture manufacturer identity, is positioned as the world's 13th largest producer with 12 billion dollars in production.

We are talking about a production-friendly sector where it is possible to increase added value. We always have the opportunity to sell products we produce with design and brand to markets with high purchasing power at higher added value.

Today we aim to increase the average per-kilogram sales price from 2.8 dollars to 7 dollars. We increased our exports 22-fold over 20 years, raising them from 160 million dollars to 3.5 billion dollars. However, despite the fact that our domestic and foreign market sales stopped in March, April and May due to the pandemic, we made a rapid entry into June and increased our exports by exactly 48 percent. Our June and July performance shows we will reach approximately 4 billion dollars this year. We are targeting 3 billion dollars in exports to the United States, an important market, in the short and medium term. We have our strategic roadmap ready for this. Similarly, our exports to China continue their steady increase. Many sectors will have their eyes and ears on the China market. We attribute special importance to China to benefit from this development. Our exports to China showed a 150 percent increase compared to June 2019. God willing, this increase will continue to multiply after our organizations today," he said.