Rising labor costs in China affect Turkey’s toy sector

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

The Turkish toy sector is gearing up from a rough 2012 due to rising labor costs in China, which has traditionally been a haven for low labor costs.

Turkey’s Toy Producers’ Federation (OYDER) Executive Board President Ahmet Alioğlu told the Anatolia news agency that the Turkish toy sector had a domestic trade turnover of roughly 800 million Turkish Liras, and that 85 percent of the toys in the Turkish market were imported, most from China.

The Chinese government, however, has recently implemented a new policy of providing villagers with loans as an incentive for them to remain in their villages. With fewer villagers moving to work in factories, the costs of labor has gone up in China, according to Alioğlu. These rising labor costs have, in turn, impacted the Turkish toy sector.

“2011 was supposed to be a year where we witnessed growth in the Turkish toy sector, but this didn’t happen,” said Alioğlu, attributing the stagnation to rising labor costs in China, anti-dumping tax hikes and the appreciation of the dollar. Nevertheless, Alioğlu stressed that while he expected a tough year in 2012, Turkish toy exports - which amount to roughly 40 million liras in total to date - would not be affected.