Ready-to-wear entrepreneurs ask the government for minimum wage, foreign currency and interest

Ramazan Kaya, president of the Turkish Garment Manufacturers Association (TGSD), said the garment industry, which has lost its competitive advantage due to slowing external demand and the impact of rising domestic costs, is experiencing heavy losses in exports. and will complete the year with a contraction.

Recalling that the sector, which completed last year with 21.2 billion dollars of exports, at the beginning of the year set its export objective for this year at 23 billion dollars, Kaya stated that they revised this objective downwards and They will close the year with only 19 billion dollars. -19.5 billion dollars of exports.

Kaya stated that they expect this negative situation, which also causes job losses, to last until the second half of 2024; He stated that a series of citizen supports, especially on issues of minimum wage and financing, are vital for the future of the sector.

EXPORTS DECREASE BY 8 PERCENT

In his assessment of the sector at the briefing prior to the Istanbul Ready-to-Wear Conference to be held by TGSD on October 12 and 13, Kaya stated: “We start this year with an export goal of 23 billion dollars . However, we lost our advantages over our competitors due to the slowdown in foreign markets and rising costs at home. “For this reason we have revised our year-end export target to $19-19.5 billion,” he said.

According to information provided by Kaya, the sector experienced a 15.2 percent decrease in exports per unit and an 8 percent decrease in terms of turnover in the first nine months of the year.

Kaya stated that one of the most important reasons for the loss of exports is the weakening of Turkey’s competitiveness; He noted that currently the price difference between Turkey and rival countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and India has increased to 40 percent, and this has caused a significant decrease in Turkey’s export orders.

JOB LOSS OF 200 THOUSAND PEOPLE IN ONE YEAR

According to information provided by Kaya, the EU’s share of the sector’s exports, which was 70 percent, decreased to 59 percent in the last year. He said that in addition to the decrease in demand, they expect job losses in the textile and clothing sector to reach 200 thousand by the end of the year, due to migration from the earthquake zone and the effect of the departure of people. . their jobs thanks to EYT.

Stating that the contraction of the sector will continue in the last quarter of this year and the first quarter of 2024, Kaya noted that public support will be of great importance for companies to survive and avoid job loss in this process. Kaya listed the sector’s demands from the public as follows:

REQUEST FOR LOW INCREASE AND SUPPORT FOR MINIMUM WAGE

* The minimum wage should increase once according to the inflation target in 2024; The public should increase support for the minimum wage to 2,000 TL in 2024.

*Business loans must be granted for 3 years with a one-year grace period.

* The link between Eximbank interest rates and Central Bank rediscount interest rates should be broken and export loans should be provided at lower interest rates.

*The sector’s foreign currency loans between June 2020 and 2023 must be converted to TL and a restructuring opportunity must be provided for all loan debts.

* The premium payment for the exchange of export earnings to the Central Bank should be increased to 5 points.