Supply part sales offset some losses in automotive exports

BURSA

Turkey’s automotive exports declined 1.6 percent in January to $2.2 billion, while supply industry exports rose 7 percent, according to the Automotive Exporters Association (OİB).

“Supply industry was again the largest export products group in the first month of 2022, which was shadowed by the semiconductor chip crisis, raw material supply problems and rising costs,” OİB head Baran Çelik said in a statement on Feb. 6.

“Passenger car foreign sales dropped by 21 percent, whereas bus, minibus and midibus exports increased 39 percent,” he added.

Meanwhile, automotive exports to the United Kingdom, the United States and Egypt jumped by around 40 percent, according to his remarks.

Supply part exports to Germany, Turkey’s top export market, was up 3 percent in January.

On the other hand, exports to France and Italy decreased in double-digit percentage points.

The share of European Union countries in Turkey’s automotive exports was 62 percent, although export volume to the block was down 11 percent to around $1.4 billion.

The automotive sector still took the lion’s share in Turkey’s total exports with 12.7 percent.

Turkey aims for $250 billion in total exports this year, up from $225.3 billion in 2021.

The Turkish automotive sector will continue to suffer a setback caused by the global chip shortage at least in the first half of this year, the head of the Automotive Manufacturers Association (OSD) said last month.

“There was a groundless optimizing at the start of this year but nothing has changed on the production side,” OSD head and Ford Otosan CEO Haydar Yenigün told reporters.

Last year, Turkey’s total automotive output dropped by 2 percent to 1.27 million and car production decreased by 8 percent to 782,835 units, according to the OSD figures.

Overall automotive exports were up by 2 percent in 2021 versus 2020, while car exports posted a decline of 5 percent over the same period.

Turkey exported 937,000 vehicle units and earned $29.9 billion, while car exports totaled 565,361 units worth $9.3 billion.