Machinery exports hit $12.5 billion in six months

ISTANBUL

Türkiye’s machinery exports increased by 7.5 percent in January-June from a year ago to stand at $12.5 billion, according to a trade group.

In June Germany and the U.S. were the largest markets for local companies said the Machinery Exporters’ Association (MAİB).

Exports to Russia grew more than 100 percent on an annual basis last month to exceed $100 million.

“Monetary tightening in the U.S. and the EU may slow investments in machinery in those areas and the recession risk in our main export market worries us,” said Kutlu Karavelioğlu, head of MAİB.

Karavelioğlu is confident that if the pace of export growth remains at 10 percent, the industry’s export revenues could be somewhere near its target of $27 billion this year.

Germany’s dependency on energy will require a structural transformation, which will mean more imports by the German economy dominated by small and medium-sized companies, he added. “Along with the shift in supply chains, this transformation is likely to increase orders for Turkish products.”

“The Turkish machinery industry, which boosted its output by 9 percent and 32 percent in the previous two years, has become more competitive but local companies also need more working capital now,” Karavelioğlu said, adding that the sector’s investments also grew by 21 percent and 24 percent in the same years.

Some 70 percent of the industry’s exports are in euro and 70 percent of imports are in U.S. dollars, he added, noting that the weaker euro creates an unfavorable situation, he said.

Türkiye paid some $35 billion for machinery imports in the past 12 months, spending some $150 million each month for the machinery it bought from Far East countries, according to Karavelioğlu. “If imports remain at their current level, Türkiye will spend more than $10 billion for machinery imports from those nations,” he said.