TİM Chairman Gülle Makes Important Statements

Important Statements from TİM President Gülle The Istanbul Ready-Made Clothing and Apparel Exporters Association (İHKİB) held an awards ceremony to recognize exporters for their achievements. Speaking at the event, Turkey Exporters Council (TİM) President İsmail Gülle said: "We are proud to have reached the highest monthly export figure in our history in April. We have shown the entire world that Turkey is a reliable business partner." İHKİB President Mustafa Gültepe stated that the sector will contribute 21 billion dollars to closing the current account deficit this year. Companies that contributed to Turkey's record export of 20.3 billion dollars in ready-made clothing and apparel in 2021 were awarded at the ceremony. During the event, companies received a total of 63 platinum awards, 138 gold awards, 181 silver awards, 738 bronze awards and 1,328 achievement awards. Speaking at the event, Istanbul Ready-Made Clothing and Apparel Exporters Association (İHKİB) President Mustafa Gültepe said, "Looking at monthly data, we are up 26 percent compared to April 2021. We completed the January-April period 18.5 percent above last year. We crossed the 2 billion dollar mark in monthly exports for the first time in March. Thus we achieved the highest monthly export in all history." Mustafa Gültepe emphasized that ready-made clothing and apparel production with added value, its contribution to employment and exports make the sector strategically important for Turkey's economy. He noted that the sector demonstrated strong performance in 2021.

"We created 100,000 additional jobs during the two years of the pandemic"

Noting that they prioritized employment during the pandemic, Gültepe said: "Despite difficulties in raw material supply and high cost increases, in 2021 we continued to invest, produce and create job opportunities for our people. As a sector, we invested TRY 7 billion last year. We created additional employment for 70,000 people. We are continuing at the same pace in 2022. As of February, we increased total employment to 691,000. In February alone, we provided jobs for 11,000 people. According to Social Security Institution data, our sector accounted for nearly 25 percent of the 47,000 person employment increase in February. Over the two years of the pandemic, the additional employment we brought to our country reached 100,000."

"We are up 18.5 percent in four-month exports compared to 2021"

Emphasizing that the sector, which reached 84.1 percent capacity utilization, continues to accelerate in production and exports, Gültepe said, "We crossed the 2 billion dollar mark in monthly exports for the first time in March. In April, we renewed our record with 2.042 billion dollars. Thus we achieved the highest monthly export in all history. Looking at monthly data, we are up 26 percent compared to April 2021. We closed the January-April period up 18.5 percent compared to last year. In four-month exports we approached the 7.5 billion dollar threshold for the first time."

"We left 2021 with records"

Noting that they left 2021 with record figures, Gültepe said, "After the pandemic, both Turkey's exports and ready-made clothing exports reached different levels each month. We left 2021 with records. We are seeing an increase above the growth rate we planned for 2022, particularly in the last four months we experienced approximately 18.5 percent growth in ready-made clothing. We surpassed 2 billion dollars in March and April - that's two months. The first four or five months have been very successful for our sector. Barring any shortcomings or disruptions, looking ahead to the coming period, I estimate we will exceed the 23 billion dollars we set as our target for 2022. Especially in the medium term, we aim to increase the kilogram export unit price to 40 dollars and exports to 40 billion dollars."

TİM President Gülle: "We reached our target with 83.5 billion dollars in exports"

Emphasizing that Turkey emerged as a safe harbor during the challenging pandemic period, Turkey Exporters Council (TİM) President İsmail Gülle said, "We are proud to have reached the highest monthly export figure in our history in April. Last month our exports increased 25 percent compared to 2021, reaching 23.4 billion dollars. Thus we achieved 83.5 billion dollars in exports in the first four months of the year. For our 250 billion dollar export target, we completed one-third of the year exactly on target. Our ready-made clothing and apparel exports also achieved remarkable results during this period. After the pandemic, we entered an important transformation process in global supply chains. According to our calculations, Turkey added 23 billion dollars in value to its exports from this transformation process. We calculated that the extra value our ready-made clothing sector obtained from these changes in global supply chains was 2.5 billion dollars."

"We showed the entire world that Turkey is a reliable business partner"

Noting that geopolitical risks increased after the pandemic period, Gülle said, "We know that the world's normalization will take a bit more time. Therefore, we need to continue the export sustainability program we captured during the pandemic in a consistent manner. The logistics problems that occurred benefited our country greatly. During this period we became a reliable supply harbor. We showed the entire world that Turkey is a reliable business partner. The reason for preference is not only based on price. It is the sensitivity of our companies that conduct sustainable and environmentally sound production. As a country, we no longer have problems with any country. This is a very important advantage for us. We will evaluate this very well. Moreover, Turkey's ability to continue production under all circumstances will provide serious advantages. This includes the Ukraine-Russia war. In this war affecting the entire world, Turkey gave both a peaceful and very positive message to the world. Turkey simultaneously plays a mediator role in diplomacy while maintaining a balanced production process in trade. With the advantages provided by these two matters and our country's advantages in production that pays attention to the environment, nature and human health within the sustainability values that emerged after the pandemic, our country will continue to increase its exports day by day. We anticipate that we will approach our 2022 target and exceed it as well. We especially thank our President and our government for managing this important process very well."

"Our April exports to Israel increased by 190 million dollars"

Noting that they carried out a trade delegation to Israel for the first time in approximately 7 years, Gülle said, "The visit of the Israeli President to our country further increased the commercial atmosphere between the two countries, which was not greatly affected by existing politics. Our April exports to Israel increased by 190 million dollars. Subsequently, with the delegation we sent to Spain, there was an increase of 170 million dollars in April. In general, we see great expectations for trade delegations. By organizing trade delegations to our priority countries, we need to both be together with countries we have not visited for a long time and read the commercial atmosphere. Priority countries are of course Saudi Arabia and Egypt. We will continue with trade delegations from where we left off, conducting one or two per month."