Turkiye’s total machinery exports, including free zones, amounted to $6.9 billion in the first quarter of the year.
According to the statement made by the Machinery Exporters’ Association (MAIB), machinery exports decreased by 2.5% on an annual basis in the January-March period, falling to $6.9 billion.
In the first quarter, there was a 25% increase in turbines and turbojets, a 17% increase in heaters and ovens, and a 16% increase in textile and clothing machinery, among the main commodity groups.
While the increase in exports to the USA, one of the countries to which Turkiye exports the most machinery, continued, there were declines in the Russian and Italian markets.
MAIB President Kutlu Karavelioglu, whose views were included in the statement, stated that they were pleased to have survived the first quarter, when the state of caution reached its peak in global investments, with a limited decline in machinery and equipment exports.
Reminding that machinery and equipment investments in the world decreased last year for the first time since the Covid-19 epidemic, Karavelioglu said:
“With the acceleration in economies in the coming months, we think that these data will catch up with the performance of 2022. Although the effects of the trends that have turned horizontal in the last quarter of 2023 have not been completely erased, we cannot talk about inertia to be worried about as a sector that can increase its investments by 13%, its production by nearly 9% and as a result, its exports by 11%. Thanks to its level of integration with developed countries, the Turkish machinery sector will be quickly affected by the recovery that will start with interest rate cuts in the European Union and the USA. With its competitive structure, Türkiye will maintain its place among the countries that provide above-average increases.”
“It will be a natural consequence that protective policies will attract investment to our country.”
Kutlu Karavelioglu stated that Turkiye had a deficit of $11.7 billion against China in machinery trade last year and that they experienced serious problems in exports due to the high customs walls imposed by this country.
Describing the obstacles Turkiye faces in this country from which it imports significantly, Karavelioglu made the following evaluations:
“On the one hand, the interest shown by the EU, to which we make 41% of our exports, towards our machines with the highest added value, and on the other hand, the obstacles we face in China, from which we make 26% of our imports… We expect that the EU finally starting to complain about the one-sided trade that we have been suffering from for years will create an absolute difference in China’s perspective on investment in Turkiye. With the effect of the measures in the import regime, there was a 9.1% decrease in our country’s machinery imports from China and a 33.9% decrease in its imports from India in the first two months. It will be a natural consequence that protective policies in line with global trends will attract investment to our country, especially to our sector.”
Source: Trthaber / Prepared by Irem Yildiz