Production collapses with the earthquake

whatahramanmaras After the two large earthquakes in the center of the city, the works went to the debris removal stage in 10 provinces, while the great migration experienced began to generate its first effects, especially production that was ready to restart. According to the first estimates, 2.2 million people were evacuated to different provinces of the region where a total population of 13.3 million lives. The 10 provinces, in which the industry has a 30 percent share, especially clothing, textiles and footwear, was an important production center with a total export of 19.760 million dollars.

IT TAKES UP TO 6 WEEKS

It is stated that there is a significant migration of employees from the region, where the proportion of active insured is 11.7 percent, to the big cities, and it is pointed out that the secure accommodation areas for production must be completed quickly, which it is expected to increase. recover in 6 months. Emphasizing that people in the region should be given confidence that reliable and permanent houses are built very quickly against earthquakes, TOBB Garment and Ready-to-Wear Sector Assembly Chairman Şeref Fayat said: “Because we observed a permanent population change of 25-30 percent in the big earthquakes of the past. We have to make sure that doesn’t happen. Because the people of that region are used to the work of the region. Raising people is not easy. I think that’s the most important part to avoid capacity loss here. As a sector, we are constantly shipping containers to the region. Container cities are forming around OIZs.” Fayat, who stated that foreign buying groups tried to postpone orders in the sector for 6 weeks and provided support in this period, stated that there was no major financial loss in the sector, except for damage to machinery.

400 workshops collapsed in Antakya

The president of the Turkish Association of Footwear Manufacturers, Berke İçten, noted that there was no major problem at the Gaziantep facility, one of the important centers of shoe production, stating that 400 workshops in Antakya were completely destroyed. Explaining that 10-15 percent of production was lost, İçten said, “Gaziantep corresponds to 20-25 percent of our production in value. We need to revive production there as soon as possible. We want to open a facility with the logic of large cooperatives, instead of the facilities of around 300-400 large and small workshops, producing 30-35 units, around 1,500-2,000 pairs per day, in the first place, where we managed scale economics.”

Seref Fayat

loosen the coin

Şeref Fayat, who stated that orders that need to be shipped quickly have been moved to workshops in Thrace and the Black Sea region, said: “Wounds will take 6 months to heal and reach full capacity. Foreign groups say: ‘We want to ask for support, but the 40 percent price difference with the Far East ties our hands.’ Here, the pressure on the exchange rate can be lifted, albeit gradually. If they slow down, we think both the recovery and production in the industry will pick up speed.”