Mesut Oksuz, President of the Glassware Manufacturers Association (ZUCDER), stated that they target $6 billion of exports this year and said, “We are in the 8th place in exports, our goal is to rank 5th in the first 5 years. We are working for this.”
Oksuz, who attended the 13th International Home and Kitchenware Manufacturer and Brand Summit held in Antalya, told the AA correspondent that the sector was also affected by the global recession in the world.
Stating that they experienced a 3% contraction in the first quarter of the year, Oksuz stated that as a sector, they had a foreign trade surplus of $750 million as of the first quarter.
Oksuz noted that they expect a recovery by mid-year and aim to close 2024 with exports of $6 billion.
Turkish glassware industry exports mainly to Europe, Africa and the Middle East
Explaining that they send products all over the world as a sector, Oksuz continued as follows:
“Wherever you go in the world, there is a high probability that you will find our brands in an unexpected place, in a cafe, on plates, porcelain, ceramics, steel, or a wooden product. We rank 8th in exports, our goal is to rank 5th in the first 5 years. We are working for this. China is the giant of the world, it accounts for more than 50% alone, while other countries are ranked with differences of $300, $500 million.”
Oksuz stated that the world trade volume of the sector is $300 billion and approximately $152 billion of this trade is realized by China alone, and noted that Turkiye currently has a 2% share in the world market.
Mesut Oksuz stated that after China, Germany with approximately $15 billion in exports and the USA with approximately $14 billion are in the first three places and reported that the USA is followed by Italy with exports of $8 billion 860 million, Mexico with $8 billion 813 million, the Netherlands with $7 billion and Hong Kong with $6 billion 400 thousand.
Turkiye ranks 8th with $6 billion exports in the glassware industry
Stating that they are turning to different countries in order to increase exports as a sector, Oksuz said:
“58% of our exports are made up of European Union countries. The rest is spread to other countries. The economic stagnation in Europe has been a problem for us. There has been a recovery recently. Ukraine and Russia are important market regions for us. We had problems here too, but there is some recovery. Our sales region is mainly Europe, Africa and the Middle East.”
Source: AA / Prepared by Irem Yildiz