Turkiye’s exports of furniture, paper and forestry products reached $1 billion 963 million in the first quarter of the year with an increase of 1.6% compared to the same period of 2022.
According to the information compiled by AA correspondent from the data of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM), Turkiye’s exports increased by 2.5% in the first quarter to $61.6 billion. This figure was recorded as the highest January-March period exports of all time.
Furniture, paper and forestry products sector also broke a record in exports during the said period. In the January-March period, the sector’s exports increased to $1 billion 963 million, achieving the highest first quarter income in this area.
The exports of the sector, which fell in February due to the impact of the Kahramanmaras-centered earthquakes, amounted to $760 million in March.
Highest exports to Iraq and Israel
In the January-March period of this year, the highest export was made to Iraq with $216.6 million. Israel followed with $106.8 million and the United Kingdom with $100.2 million. It was noteworthy that there was a decrease in the first three markets. The rate of decline was 6.6% in Iraq, 12% in Israel, and 4.7% in the United Kingdom.
Other countries among the top 10 export markets are Germany, Iran, Libya, USA, France, Russia and Morocco.
The highest increase among the top 10 countries in exports was in Russia ($59.6 million) with 181.7%. It was noteworthy that there was an increase of 47.5% ($84.4 million) in exports to Iran.
Exports to Saudi Arabia increased by 5 thousand 269%
The highest increase among 109 countries to which Turkiye exported furniture, paper and forestry products worth more than $1 million in the first quarter of the year was in Saudi Arabia.
Exports of furniture, paper and forestry products to Saudi Arabia increased by 5,269.1% in the January-March period to $31.6 million. It was followed by Thailand with 229.8% increase, Latvia with 215.9%, Russia with 181.7%, Belarus with 114.7% and Tajikistan with 103.2%.
Hungary, Brazil, Lithuania, Ukraine, Serbia, Slovakia, Afghanistan and Congo were also among the countries with high increases.
“I believe we will reach the target of $10 billion”
Istanbul Furniture, Paper and Forest Products Exporters’ Association President Erkan Ozkan, in his evaluation of the data to the AA correspondent, said that the earthquake disaster injured everyone deeply, and that all sectors mobilized to support the disaster area throughout February.
Expressing that the sectors started to recover in March as the wounds started to heal, Ozkan said, “The sectors that were interrupted after the disaster gained momentum again in March as the production wheels started to turn, and thus the export figures began to increase.”
Noting that they started 2023 by dreaming of great achievements and great happiness in the 100th anniversary of the Republic, Ozkan made the following assessments:
“I believe that we will rise from our ashes in our 100th year as well, and the disaster area will return to its old days as soon as possible. We are doing our best so that all our companies in the region can return to their production activities again. The export success achieved by our country in March put a smile on our faces, albeit for a bit.
As an industry, we have reached a figure that surpassed both the past two months and March of last year. We want to reach increasing export figures throughout the year by maintaining our stability. All of our stakeholders work with great devotion. We set a target of $10 billion for this year, we believe that we will succeed.”
Source: AA / Prepared by Irem Yildiz