Textile nation suffers from cotton exports

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkey’s trade deficit in cotton jumps to $9 billion in one decade. DHA photo

Turkey, a leading textile exporter, is increasingly a cotton importer, and its trade deficit in cotton and related products has become more than $9 billion in the last 10 years, according to a report prepared by an opposition politician.

While importing $21.7 billion of cotton, cotton fiber and cotton fabric, Turkey has exported only $12.6 billion of these products since 2002, according to the report by Umut Oran, deputy chairman of the Republican People’s Party (CHP). Turkey ranks second after China for highest cotton imports according to United Nations Food and Agriculture (FAO) data. The price of cotton imported by Turkey has increased 275 percent in the last 10 years as well. Turkey bought cotton for an average of $2.13 per kilogram, but sold it at a price of $1.69 per kilogram in the first 10 months of 2012, which also affected the trade deficit outcome. The report also remarks that cotton production in Turkey costs more than in the rest of the world.

The United States leads the countries Turkey has imported from most with $1.3 billion of the total $1.8 billion of cotton bought in 2011. Brazil ranked second and Greece third, rankings that did not change in 2012. Turkey’s cotton production area has also diminished 1.79 billion square meters in the
last 10 years, according to Turkish Statistical Institution data. Turkey’s share in worldwide production fell to 2.1 percent in 2012 from 4.6 percent in 2002.