Jewelry exports on the rise in Turkey

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkey’s jewelry exports, excluding gold bars, rose to $2.07 billion. DAILY NEWS photo

Turkey’s jewelry exports, excluding gold bar exports, increased by 8.4 percent in the first 11 months of the year from the same period of the previous year, and are worth around $2.07 billion, the Jewelry Exporters Association announced yesterday.

 Turkey exported most jewelry to the UAE, Iraq, Lithuania, Germany and Libya in the period mentioned.
“Turkey has the potential to increase its jewelry exports much more,” said association head Ayhan Güner. “We expect that the sector will get rid of the special consumption taxes on imported raw materials of jewelry soon. Thus, Turkish jewelry exports will become more competitive abroad. We can even reach some 15-20 billion worth of exports in the next five years, as well as hiking our production,” he added.

A diamond bourse will also be launched in Istanbul in the coming months. “Turkey may become the biggest rival of Israel and Belgium with this bourse,” Güner said.

Turkey’s jewelry exports decreased by 3.2 percent in November to around $242 million compared to the same month of the previous year. The U.A.E. and Iraq ranked first and second in buying most jewelry from Turkey. Third-placed Libya increased its exports by 143 percent based on value and 152 percent based on amount.