Turkish exporters to target large economies this year

ISTANBUL

Turkish exporters will focus more on large economies, such as the U.S, China and India, this year, as they aim to boost goods and service export revenues to a total of $402 billion, says Mustafa Gültepe, the head of the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TİM).

“We are shifting our focus to the alternative markets with large import potential,” he told reporters.

In a bid to explore opportunities, they will dispatch five trade delegations to the U.S., three to China and two to India this year, Gültepe added.

He recalled that the government’s medium-term program targets $267 billion in goods and $135 billion in service export revenues for 2024. “We can easily meet those targets.”

With exports at $255.8 billion, Türkiye increased its share in global exports from 1.02 percent to 1.06 percent last year, Gültepe said.

“This was an important achievement considering the fact that Türkiye’s export markets contracted and some of the sectors lost their competitiveness due to high domestic costs.”

Germany, the U.S., and Iraq were the largest markets for Turkish exporters last year, Gültepe said, adding that Türkiye’s shipments to 113 countries increased with exports to 66 nations reaching record levels.

“We also increased the number of countries to which we export more than $1 billion to 50.”

Gültepe, however, warned about the headwinds ahead for Turkish exporters.

“The global economy is not expected to pick up before the second half of 2024. The limited growth in global trade will have repercussions on us.”

As was the case last year, some of the Turkish industries will have difficulty competing with rival countries in the export markets due to high costs, Gültepe said.

“We are expecting economic policies, which will help exporters keep their competitiveness, to be implemented…The U.S. dollar/lira exchange rate must catch up with the wage increase.”

Gültepe complained about the wage hike, saying that it was too high.

The monthly minimum wage was increased by 49 percent to 17,002 Turkish Liras ($564) for 2024.

“Now the cost of employing an unskilled worker is $850. With the wages at this level, it is impossible for exporters to compete with their rivals in the world.”

The current U.S. dollar/lira rate is not good enough for exporters, Gültepe said, predicting the rate will gradually climb to 40.

“Our products became expensive at a time when global demand weakened. We lost our competitiveness. Countries that previously bought goods from us turned to other rival markets,” he added.