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Press release…
İzmir Commodity Exchange Board Member Erol Avni Bozkurt: “While the increase in global freight prices affects exporters all over the world in a similar way, the rise in domestic transportation prices negatively influences the competitiveness of our exporting companies”
İzmir Commodity Exchange Board Member Erol Avni Bozkurt mentioned that exports are the locomotive of the economy during the pandemic period.
Stating that the production power of the country’s private sector on the one hand and the developments in favour of the country in the world trade routes on the other hand, affect exports positively, Bozkurt said, “According to the GTS (General Trade System) data of the Ministry of Trade, our total exports soared by 32,85 percent in 2021. It surpassed 225 billion dollars and set a historic record. The sustainability of new export connections and their further growth in the coming years will be the driving force for our country to reach its economic targets. For this reason, price competition is of great importance as well as quality competition against the global competitors of our exporting companies.”
Indicating that there has been a significant step-up in the production costs of companies in Turkiye as well as in the whole world during the pandemic period, Bozkurt explained, “One of the important problems that compel our exporting companies is the rising prices in domestic port container transportation. There have been significant price hikes in fuel prices in the last 3-4 months, but this has been reflected in transportation prices much more.”
“In this period, we can say that shipping prices surged by more than 100 percent in the market. Unfortunately, it is not always possible for exporting companies to reflect this price hike in transportation to their export unit prices, always and/or in every sector,” Bozkurt added.
Pointing out that the increase in global freight prices affects exporters all over the world in a similar way, and the increase in domestic transportation prices negatively affects the competitiveness of our companies and creates an obstacle to sustainable exports, Bozkurt concluded, “For this reason, it would be appropriate to reduce the SCT (Special Consumption Tax) charged on fuel or to implement similar practices, especially in order to reduce the domestic port container transportation costs of our exporting companies.”
