Machinery Foreign Trade Deficit Halved

Turkey closes year with USD 17.9 billion in machinery exports

The Machinery Exporters Association (MAİB) announced Turkey's total machinery exports for 2019 at USD 17.9 billion. MAİB Chairman Kutlu Karavelioğlu stated that in a year when the machinery industry was among the three sectors with the highest export performance, they raised the ratio of exports covering imports to a record level of 76.3 percent, saying: "Countries that do not want to lose their technological competitive advantage are now buying fewer machines from abroad. Despite this, we exported 300,000 tons more machinery and succeeded in increasing our export revenue by more than USD 720 million in 2019." The machinery sector, which increased its exports by 4.2 percent compared to the end of the previous year, closed the year with USD 17.9 billion in exports. Together with exports from Free Trade Zones, this figure approached USD 19 billion. This value corresponds to 10.5 percent of Turkey's total exports, announced at USD 180.5 billion according to "general trade data." In this year, when Turkey's machinery imports declined by 17.6 percent with an emphasis on domestic industry, the ratio of machinery exports covering imports rose to 76.3 percent. MAİB Chairman Kutlu Karavelioğlu, noting satisfaction at the halving of the machinery foreign trade deficit, which stood at USD 10 billion the previous year, stated: "Machinery foreign trade is contracting worldwide; not just Turkey, but everyone is turning to their own country's machines. In 2019, USD 450 billion worth of goods were placed under protection on a global scale, with machinery making up a large portion of these goods. While world total machinery exports fell in the past year, led by leading countries, we succeeded in increasing our machinery exports by more than 4 percent. The key factor that made us successful in this process was the positive perception of Turkish machinery and our optimal positioning on the quality-price axis," he stated.

"We are debt-free and stable; 2020 will be easier for us"

The machinery most exported in 2019 included refrigeration machines and air conditioners, internal combustion engines and components, washing and drying machines, construction and mining machinery, and pumps and compressors. During this period, products providing the highest proportional export growth included electric motors and generators, cargo handling, transport and stacking machinery, and tractors and machines used in agriculture and forestry. Karavelioğlu noted that in 2019, machinery and equipment investments were most affected by stagnation in target market economies that did not grow as expected due to political uncertainties, geopolitical risks and technology wars. He highlighted that the Turkish machinery sector succeeded in turning the situation to its advantage with its debt-free and stable structure, stating: "Apart from our export performance that stood out positively from the rest of the world in 2019, it was also a year in which we achieved significant gains domestically. We took a place as a focus sector in almost all strategic plans and became partners, in a sense, to the responsibility of our Ministries. With the contribution of steps taken to improve the investment environment, we expect fixed capital investments within the country to increase again in the second half of the year, after eight quarters. We leveraged the difficult period we left behind by increasing the productivity of our machinery, diversifying our products and raising their technology levels. We will once again show everyone in 2020 that Turkey has an increasingly competitive machinery sector."

"Machinery users are responsible for the world's future"

Emphasizing that the concept of productivity has become an important criterion in machinery performance and that doing more work with less cost is a fundamental measure, Karavelioğlu evaluated developments that will dominate world trade in the very near future as follows: "Machinery users must consider many parameters evaluated within quality concepts such as energy consumption, scrap, waste and sustainability in their investment decisions. It should not be forgotten that the energy requirements of machinery used in industrial production or services are met in ways that cause irreversible damage to our planet." Noting that climate change is humanity's greatest problem and will become the factor most affecting a country's share of foreign trade if not included in industrial strategies, Karavelioğlu stated: "Turkey's largest trading partner, the EU, is implementing carbon taxes. EU countries, within a planned process, will not import goods from countries indifferent to this negative trend. Although perceived as protectionist foreign trade policy, we find this approach highly compatible with humanity's fundamental values and, as Turkey's machinery manufacturers, we aim to raise public awareness to manage this phenomenon in time by taking precautions," he said.