The “MESIAD 30th Anniversary Award Ceremony for Those Who Add Value to Merter”, organized for the first time this year by Merter Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (MESIAD) for its 30th anniversary, was held with the participation of Minister of Commerce Ömer Bolat.
In his speech at the ceremony, Minister Bolat stated that it has been 16 months since he took office and that they are careful to be in the field during this process and to stay in consultation with all relevant institutions of the economy, industry and trade, to listen and to keep communication constant.
Stating that he visited LASİAD and OTİAD and held meetings, Bolat talked about his witness to the development of the textile market in Merter, Güngören, Osmanbey and Laleli.
“WE MAINTAINED OUR COMMUNICATION VERY TIGHT”
Stating that there has been a painful period in textile and apparel due to the global market contraction for more than a year, Bolat said, “In this painful period, we have kept our communication very tight in order to explain to the sector what we are doing as the government and the Ministry of Commerce, to listen to you and to solve your problems that we can solve in the short term.” “We ran to your fairs, came and opened them.” he said.
Bolat stated that the textile and clothing sector is a sector that is the mother of industries and sectors and said, “It is a sector that started in our country in the last 40-50 years of the Ottoman Empire. Since we are a cotton producing country, it started with gin production and then started with yarn production since the 1950s.” “Since the 60s, fabric integrated facilities and factories have been established, and integrated facilities have been established in the Izmir region and around Adana due to the beautiful cotton of the Aegean and the beautiful cotton of Çukurova.” he said.
“MAJOR INVESTMENTS WERE MADE”
Stating that the Istanbul market is the center of fashion and consumption, Bolat reminded that products produced in Anatolia are offered for sale in Sultanhamam.
Explaining that after 1980, Istanbul started to expand beyond the provincial borders with the incentives given to take out established industries, Bolat said that it spread to regions such as Çorum, Çerkezköy, Gebze, Kocaeli, Sakarya and Bilecik. Explaining that Kahramanmaraş, Adıyaman, Malatya, Adana, Gaziantep and Denizli are growing rapidly, Bolat said, “Turkey’s great leap forward in textile industry started after 1983 during the late Özal period, with the export-based growth model. These cities evaluated this process very well and made big investments.” was done.” he said.
“THERE IS AN 80 BILLION DOLLAR PRODUCTION AND ADDED VALUE”
Stating that Istanbul has become the center of apparel, Bolat said:
“And in this process, the big fashion centers and textile centers that we are talking about, Laleli, Osmanbey, Merter, were formed. Production centers such as Sultangazi, İkitelli, and Osmaniye Veli Efendi had integrated yarn fabric factories there before. Most of them went to the Çerkezköy basin. There is a production and added value of 80 billion dollars in this sector, where 1 million 75 thousand people are employed. 50 billion dollars of this is in textiles and 30 billion dollars is in apparel. Of course, sub-sectors such as leather, shoes, home textiles and accessories are actually a part of the textile clothing industry. “They are an inseparable whole. Together, they realize an export of approximately 37-38 billion dollars.”
“WE HAVE A LONG DISTANCE TO COME”
Minister of Commerce Bolat stated that the sector, which was the locomotive of the industry in the 1980s when textiles were launched, had a very large share in employment and constituted almost more than two-thirds of exports, and made the following statements:
“Today, the textile and apparel sector constitutes 13 percent of our exports with a share of 33 billion dollars. It is in the top three along with the automotive, chemical and energy sectors. We still have a long way to go in the world textile and ready-made clothing trade of 875 billion dollars. We are in this sector, We took it from Germany, France and Italy. They were the textile and fashion centers of the world. But Turkey made a big move as a production and export base after 1980, and our success in textiles also brought confidence to other sectors. “Today, we have become a country with 262 billion dollars worth of goods and 110 billion dollars of export income in many sectors, from steel to automotive, from chemicals to machinery production.”
Explaining that there have been major attacks and contractions from time to time, Bolat said, “There have been contractions from time to time in the past due to internal reasons. But the direction has always continued to move upwards. Therefore, in the last year or so, the great contraction in global demand and especially the anti-inflation policies in the world “There may be a slowdown in sales due to the slowdown in domestic demand due to the anti-inflation policy in Turkey, but as I always said at the fair openings, these are temporary conjunctures and fluctuations, and believe me, at the end of the day, we will be on the move again in the not too long future.” he said.
“RUSSIA WAS A VERY IMPORTANT MARKET FOR US”
Stating that there is a new world war between the West and Russia, Bolat said:
“Russia was a very important market for us. We learned about suitcase tourism in the Russian market after 1990. Osmanbey, Merter and Laleli markets made a big move with suitcase tourism. But when the Russians banned suitcase tourism in 1998, all hell broke loose. Alas, we were burned, we were finished, we were ruined.” They always said, “What happened?” In 1-2 years, everyone adapted to the new era. They became companies, started to export normally, and started to benefit from the government’s export incentives. In the period when crises were common in the past, major economic crises occurred every 2-3 years in the 90s, the crises of 94, 98, and 2001… Therefore, dear friends, let’s not lose morale, let’s keep our heads high and figure out how we can increase our sales at these points, how we can create new ones. “Can we find markets? Let’s always be in these searches. As the Ministry of Commerce, we will always continue to be with you.”
“NET EXPORT CONTRIBUTION WAS THE LOCOMOTIVE OF GROWTH”
Minister Bolat stated that while the world’s average growth rate was 3.8 percent between 2000 and 2020, there was a contraction of 3.2 percent for the last 3 years, especially in 2023 and 2024, and said, “So this growth is limited. Our markets are the USA and the EU.” ‘s growth rates are lower. They are in such a serious recession that both the USA and the EU started to reduce interest rates. Central banks started to cut interest rates in September and recently, when interest rates became more favorable in the spring, they saw that global demand was increasing. “You will all see that sales are alive, demand is alive and sales are increasing in your business.” he said.
Noting that Turkey closed last year with 5.1 percent growth, Bolat said that national income exceeded 1 trillion dollars for the first time and reached 1 trillion 118 billion dollars. Bolat said, “In the first 6 months of this year, our growth rate was 3.8 percent and our national income reached 1 trillion 250 billion dollars. Our national income per capita was 13 thousand 243 dollars last year, and we will see it exceed 14 thousand dollars and approach 15 thousand dollars at the end of this year.” “The locomotive of this growth was the net export contribution. 1.4 points of the 3.8 percent real growth came from the net export contribution.” he said.
Reminding that they announced the export data the other day, Bolat said, “2024 is a difficult year. Global demand is very stagnant, there is war in our north, there is the Israeli genocide, there is tension in the trade channels. Suez is blocked from time to time. Now the eastern ports of America are on strike. All this “Despite this, our exporters are trying heroically and selflessly, and we are giving them this support. We increased our goods exports by 3.2 percent in the first 9 months of 2024, reaching 193 billion dollars.” he said.
Stating that imports decreased by 8 percent to 253 billion dollars, Bolat continued his words as follows:
“There is a decrease of 21.5 billion dollars in imports, an increase of 6 billion dollars in exports in the first 9 months, and our foreign trade deficit of 27.5 billion dollars in total has decreased. What does this mean? The issue of foreign exchange is no longer a problem. We no longer have a problem such as foreign exchange adequacy. By reducing our trade deficit and current account deficit to very reasonable levels and achieving a significant reduction in our foreign trade deficit, especially excluding gold and energy, the contribution of exports to growth increases. Exporting, producing, increasing employment and investments are all positive developments for Turkey.
While there was a foreign trade deficit of nearly 88 billion dollars last year in the first 9 months, this year it managed to stop at 60 billion dollars. We have a savings of 27.5-28 billion dollars. This means that Turkey’s foreign exchange reserves increase. Our gross foreign exchange reserves increased from 98.5 billion dollars to 157.5 billion dollars. Our net foreign exchange reserves increased from minus 60.5 billion dollars to plus 30 billion dollars, showing an improvement of 90 billion dollars excluding swaps. In the face of this situation, the ratio of exports to imports increased from 68 percent last year to 76.3 percent this year. “These are positive progress on the foreign trade front.”
“WE ARE IMPLEMENTING A VERY IMPORTANT PROGRAM ON ADAPTATION TO THE GREEN ECONOMY”
Minister of Commerce Bolat pointed out that there are 573 billion dollars of ready-made clothing exports in the world in 2023 and said, “There is approximately 286 billion dollars of textile exports. China ranks first. Especially in the ready-made clothing sector, there is a decrease compared to 2022, which is 2-2.5 billion dollars.” The most important reason for this is that with the end of the pandemic and the decrease in quarantines, the tremendous demand boom in the western markets of developed countries has reached saturation. Along with the economic recession and high inflation, there is also a serious stagnation in demand there, especially in textiles, and efforts to adapt to the green economy are more effective. “This situation reduced the demand for final new products and brought about adaptation pains by making competition in production and sales difficult in the market.” he said.
Stating that the ministry and the government have implemented a very important program on adaptation to the green economy, Bolat said, “We also help the textile and clothing sector in this regard. We have initiated an export support program under the name of responsibility under the name of adaptation to the green economy and trade. Compliance with the green economy per company “We have initiated a 10 million lira grant support program for those who initiated the program. We will also offer loan opportunities under advantageous conditions with Eximbank loans and TUBITAK loans from the Ministry of Industry and Technology to companies that are making progress in their efforts to adapt to the green economy.” he said.
Noting that Turkey’s largest foreign trade partner in textiles and clothing is Germany, Bolat reminded that the first market in textiles and clothing is Germany. Stating that the decrease in Germany’s imports decreased by a cumulative 25 percent compared to 2022, Bolat said:
“These issues of food, clothing and shelter for human beings will continue until the end of time as long as human beings exist. Therefore, do not believe those who write doomsday scenarios about the textile industry. We are following the concordat issue very closely. Our Minister of Justice also announced the official data last week. Concordat applications may have increased, but “The number for which the courts made a concordat decision is 44. As the Ministry of Government and Trade, we allocate 60 percent of the ministry’s budget to exporters. We had a budget of 21 billion lira for the export of goods and services. The demands are high, this budget may be exceeded, we are trying to find more resources.”
Stating that the daily limit of export rediscount credit in Eximbank and commercial banks has been increased by 10 times to 3 billion lira, Bolat said, “We hope to receive new good news next week, we are working together with our Ministry of Treasury and Finance and our Central Bank. We are currently working on reducing their cost by 25.93 percent.” “The rediscount credit limit will increase, and hopefully we will prioritize employment-intensive sectors such as textile, clothing, leather, shoes and furniture.” he said.
Explaining the support provided, Bolat said, “Our work on declaring the IFCO and Texhibition fairs, which are on their way to becoming world-class fairs, as prestigious fairs will soon be finalized and our support limit in those fairs will increase to 70 percent. Thus, as world-class fairs, participation and visitors will also increase. ” he said.
Bolat continued his words as follows:
“Together, we will carry our Turkey to a better future. We will make the Century of Turkey the Century of Trade and continue to increase our share in global trade in the export of both goods and services. We are not working in a rose garden without thorns, take a look around you at what kind of geography and ring of fire you can sail your ship safely in deep waters.” “We are trying to get it to the ports safely.”
After the opening speeches, awards were given and a group photo was taken.
