Short EU demand drops Bursa exports

BURSA / ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Some 37 percent of car exports are produced in the industrialized Bursa province. DHA photo

Bursa, a northwestern province known as the heart of car-making in Turkey, is the province affected worst by the crisis in Europe, according to a local business leader. 

The province had followed Istanbul, the province in Turkey with the most exports, for many years, but today it is lagging behind Kocaeli, another industrial province, due to the shrinkage in European markets, İlhan Parseker, the head of the Bursa Chamber of Trade and Industry (BTSO), told Anatolia news agency. 
Some 37 percent of Turkey’s overall exports are from Bursa.

“Bursa has become the city worst-affected by the crisis in Europe,” said Parseker, who is also a board member of the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB). 
The business representative said the businesses in the province were eyeing new markets to revive trade. 

Separately, the Automotive Distributors Association (ODD) said 2013 was not a promising year for the sector, just like 2012.

This level is way below the real potential of the sector, said Hayri Erce, the general coordinator of the ODD. 

The car and light commercial vehicle sales in 2012 fell 10 percent from a year earlier to around 864,000, according to figures provided by the association, which says diversification of markets is needed to recover.