White goods sales up 27 pct in April: Association

ISTANBUL

White goods sales in Türkiye have increased by 27 percent in April from a year ago but the industry’s exports fell in the month.

Some 854,000 units were sold on the local market last month, according to the data from the White Goods Manufacturers’ Association of Türkiye (TÜRKBESD).

Local companies shipped a little more than 1 million white goods to foreign markets, which marked a 54 percent decline from April 2022.

The industry’s production dropped 13 percent.

From January to April, 10.8 million units of white goods were manufactured in Türkiye, down 5 percent from the first four months of 2022, said the association.

During the same period local sales exhibited an annual increase of 14 percent to stand at 3.2 million, but the industry’s export fell 24 percent year-on-year to 6.7 million units.

Difficulties in global the economy are weighing on the local white goods sector’s export performance, commented Gökhan Sığın, the board chair of TÜRKBESD.

“Exports began to decline at the start of the year due to energy-related concerns triggered by the war between Russia and Ukraine and high inflation,” he said.

White goods sales are largely linked to home sales, while the start of the wedding season usually has a positive impact on the sales.

Some 600,000 couples are expected to tie the knot this year in Türkiye, an expert from the industry said recently.