Machinery exports from Turkey to Germany double

ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News

Germany is a market where quality products fiercely compete,’ Dalgakıran says. Hürriyet photo

Turkey’s machinery exports to Germany, the country with the strongest machinery and equipment industry in Europe, rose by 94.4 percent between January and September this year, compared to the same period in 2010, according to data published by Turkey’s Exporters Assembly (TİM).

Machinery exports to Germany jumped to $746.9 million during the period, up from $384.1 million for the same period last year, data showed. Machineries for construction and mining, the food industry, and pumps and compressors were among the categories exported most to Germany, according to the Central Anatolia Machinery Exporters Union (OAİB), the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday.

Meanwhile, the country’s total machine exports also increased more than 34 percent during the first nine months of the year, to $6.11 billion, compared to about $4.55 billion the figure was for the same period of 2010, TİM figures showed. The machinery groups whose exports increased most were engines, machinery components and parts, industrial air conditioners, cooling machineries, reactors and cauldrons.

Following Germany, the countries where Turkey exported most of its machinery products during the first nine months of the year were Iran with $414.56 million, the United Kingdom with $322.08 million, Russia with $301.52 million and Iraq with $265.04 million. France and Italy followed with $220.76 million and $236.55 million respectively, data showed. Meanwhile, Turkey exported machinery worth $190.44 million to Azerbaijan and $161.56 million to Saudi Arabia.

“Germany is a market where quality products fiercely compete. Thus, having doubled our machinery exports to this country is a key development,” said Adnan Dalgakıran, OAİB’s executive board chairman, according to the report. Turkey, however, has to increase its share in this market, he said, recalling that Germany’s total machinery imports totaled $200 billion. “Our aim is to bring machinery exports to Germany to $10 billion in five to six years.”

Turkey aims to export $12 billion worth of machinery by the year’s end, according to Dalgakıran. In order for the machinery sector to achieve its $100 billion-export target by 2023, it has to grow 22 to 23 percent on average annually, he said.

To achieve such targets a considerable increase in research and development activities and structural regulations are necessary, Dalgakıran said.

“The government provides us with serious research and development support. This support must be properly used by the sector,” he said, adding that the sector had to work more toward providing quality and standardization of products. “The incentives must also be oriented toward goods that provide quality, efficiency and added value. That is, an equal incentives system should not be applied.