THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
Related Articles
Press release…
Even the most value-added producer is at a loss…
We should get out of the interest-inflation-FX triangle and establish our production policy…
After the Qurban Bayram holiday, the government needs to make new decisions and pave the way for the exporters…
Textile and ready-to-wear sectors cannot cope with the spiral of inflation-FX-interest. The recession, which has been experienced for about a year, continues in the ready-to-wear and textile sector, which is one of the leading and labour-intensive sectors in Türkiye. Firms are decreasing their production and employment capacity day by day.
The difference given to the FX exchanged by the exporter with the Central Bank should be increased from 2 percent to 15 percent.
Warehouses full of cotton…
Aegean Exporters’ Associations (EIB) Coordinator Jak Eskinazi, Chair of Aegean Textile and Raw Materials Exporters’ Association, said that the hike in the exchange rate gives some motivation to exporters, but that it is not at a level that can cover the losses.
“Because inflation, costs and minimum wages have upset our calculations. With the announcement of the minimum wage, we have become even worse than before. It was something we did not expect. We are not against raising the minimum wage, but the stance in the exchange rates has brought us to our old pessimism, we are unable to keep a price tag again. Last year was one of the worst for textiles. While Türkiye imports cotton, it has come to the point of transferring as much cotton as its production,” he said.
“There are swellings in stocks when there is no demand. The warehouses are filled to the brim with cotton. There will be a new harvest after September, we have no idea what to do with the new harvest. Aegean exports are increasing due to cotton. We have the cheapest cotton in the world because of the exchange rates, but there is no demand. This leads us to pessimism. The earthquake area was also our production base and we suffered serious damage, and now our factories are recovering,” he added.
While wages are in the band of 480 dollars, gross 800 dollars in our country, it is around 200 dollars in competitor countries…
Reminding that energy prices tripled in the world after the Russia-Ukraine war, but came back a year and a half later, Eskinazi concluded, “We have reduced these prices in slices of 15-20 percent. We lost our competitiveness because of costs. We are a labour intensive industry. While the wages in our country are in the band of 480 dollars and gross 800 dollars, it is around 200 dollars in competing countries. It is clear from here that our chance to compete with the world has decreased. Mehmet Şimşek, our Minister of Treasury and Finance, had a rhetoric that the Turkish economy would be placed on a rational basis right after he took office. Our biggest hope is that the Turkish economy will settle on a rational basis.”
