The textile industry sounds the alarm

The textile industry, deeply affected by rising costs, declining purchasing power, declining demand and high inflation, is going through a difficult period.

Due to the negative trend, the sector lost most of its profits in international markets to Indonesia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh and China.

Fatih Doğan, chairman of the board of directors of the Mediterranean Association of Raw Materials and Textiles Exporters (ATHİB), said that most of the factories producing yarn in Turkey have closed and companies struggling to survive can operate at 30 percent. of its capacity.

Doğan stated that the problem has become increasingly inextricable and that they are waiting for an urgent aid package from the government.

EXPORTS DECREASE BY 9.5 PERCENT

President Doğan stated that Turkey’s exports of textiles and raw materials decreased by 9.5 percent between January and August 2023 compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 6.287 million dollars, and in the same period , ATHİB’s exports decreased by 23.8 percent to 687 million 827 dollars, he stated that it was a thousand dollars.

“The main reasons for the decline in exports of our sector are due to rising costs, declining purchasing power, declining demand and high inflation,” said Doğan, adding that in the current situation, manufacturing factories yarns are going through difficult times. survive and continue their production, and the resulting crisis also affects the cotton market.

Doğan explained the crisis in the following words:

“Since our factories cannot produce, they cannot buy cotton from the producers. Our producers try to export their cotton abroad at the price they can find, which naturally causes a drop in prices. “Currently, Turkish cotton has become the cheapest cotton in the world.”

‘WE ARE WAITING FOR URGENT SUPPORT’

President Doğan stated that the sector has been accumulating reserves for a long time in case things improve and that production has reached an unsustainable point due to increasing costs and financial burden due to lack of improvement in the business , and continued as follows:

“No one wants to continue producing at a loss. We are having difficulty finding staff to work in our sector due to reconstruction activities due to the earthquake in our region. Being able to hold a screwdriver has become very valuable and costs have increased. Interest rates on our financing costs have also increased to 50 percent. Our companies are working hard to stay afloat. The capacity of our factories trying to stay afloat has fallen to 30 percent. “We expect urgent support from our State in terms of labor, energy and raw material prices.”

WARNING ABOUT ADDICTION TO IMPORTED PRODUCTS

Stating that dramatic changes are taking place in cotton production around the world, Mayor Doğan explained the changes in the following words:

“As food supply comes to the fore around the world, cotton production in China has decreased from 8 million tonnes to 5 million tonnes annually. Annual cotton production in Uzbekistan decreased from 2.5 million tons to 800 thousand tons. Uzbekistan banned cotton exports to protect its producers. Uzbekistan supplies its own cotton to its own spinners at a price 15 percent cheaper than the international price and supports its exports at a similar rate. In other words, the total support granted reaches 30 percent.

European buyers, to whom we export the majority of our exports as a sector, lifted the embargo on Uzbekistan for using child labor. He even started giving 5 percent incentives to this country. India increased its annual cotton production from 2.5 million tonnes to 6 million tonnes with various incentives.

We are not saying that cotton exports should be banned. Ultimately, the producer will sell the product he produces. However, we do not want Turkish cotton to become the cheapest cotton in the world. If the producer cannot earn money, he will abandon cotton cultivation in the next few years. This makes our textile and clothing sector, which provides employment to more than 2 million people, completely dependent on imported products. In that case, we will have no chance to compete in international markets. “We expect urgent and results-oriented support from our government for our sector, similar to practices in other countries around the world, especially in Uzbekistan.”