The contraction in European economies has also taken its toll on Turkey’s exports, one of the region’s main suppliers of garments. The contraction in the EU, Turkey’s biggest export market, cost the textile and ready-to-wear sector more than USD 2 billion.
While both overall exports and exports to the EU followed a parallel course with last year, the textile sector’s exports closed the year with a contraction of 10 percent and the ready-to-wear sector with a contraction of 9.2 percent. The decline was much deeper in the EU, the main market. While the loss of the textile sector in the region approached 20 percent, the loss rate in clothing approached 10 percent. The export loss of both sectors in the region amounted to USD 2.2 billion.
According to the data announced by the Turkish Exporters Assembly, exports, which increased by 0.6 percent to USD 255.8 billion in 2023, contracted by 9.6 percent in quantity and fell to 150 million tons. Exports to the EU remained at USD 93 billion in this period, as in 2022. Textile sector exports contracted by 10 percent and fell to USD 11.6 billion. In the sector, which increased its exports by 1.8 percent in quantity to 2.3 million tons, the value per kg decreased from USD 4.5 to USD 4.1 dollars.
The sector’s market loss in the EU was much deeper, with exports to the region contracting by 17.6 percent to USD 4.6 billion. Depending on the developments, the region’s share in the sector’s exports fell to 39.9 percent. Ready-to-wear clothing, the third sector with the highest exports, contracted by 9.2 percent in value and 15 percent in quantity in 2023.
In parallel with these developments, employment in both sectors dropped by 170 thousand people to 1 million 51 thousand between the end of last year and October last year.