In the January–August 2025 period, Türkiye’s textile and apparel exports dropped from 18 billion dollars to 17.2 billion dollars, marking a 4.4% decline compared to the same period last year. The country’s textile and raw materials sector maintained stable performance with a 0.8% increase, reaching around 7.5 billion dollars. Meanwhile, apparel and garment exports fell from 10.5 billion dollars to 9.7 billion dollars, down 8%. During this period, textiles and apparel accounted for 9.7% of Türkiye’s total exports, which amounted to 178.1 billion dollars.
Exports to the European Union, which accounts for 40.8% of the Turkish textile industry’s market share, fell by 0.4% in the first eight months of the year to 3.09 billion dollars. Exports to African countries, on the other hand, rose by 19% from 858.5 million dollars to 1.02 billion dollars during this period. Exports to the former Eastern Bloc countries, which ranked third, fell by 12.3%. The country group with the highest export growth for the Turkish textile sector was Asia and Oceania. The increase rate, which was 26% in value terms, rose to 40.5% in unit terms. Another market that saw the highest export increase in unit terms was African countries, with 24%.
The shining markets in Turkish textile exports: Egypt and Morocco
In the first eight months of the year, Italy ranked first in Turkish textile exports with a 0.2% increase, followed by the US with a 2.1% decrease and Germany with a 4.3% decrease. The highest export increase was seen in Egypt, which ranked fifth after Spain. During this period, exports to Egypt increased by 35.3%, while Morocco recorded a 22.7% increase. The largest decline was seen in Russia, ranked 10th on the list. During this period, Türkiye’s textile exports to Russia fell by 20.2% compared to the same period last year.
Pakistan saw the highest increase on a unit basis at 71.2%, followed by Egypt with a 38% increase. The country with the largest decline was Iran, with a 7.7% decrease. In the January-August period of 2025, technical textiles were the industry’s most exported product group with 1.5 billion dollars. They were followed by woven fabrics with approximately 1.5 billion dollars and yarn with 1.8 billion dollars. The highest increase was seen in the fiber product group with 11%, while the largest decline was observed in knitted fabrics with 9.7%.
During this period, the highest textile exports were to the United States, Germany, and Italy, respectively. The country with the highest increase in technical textile exports was Morocco, with 42.4%. Spain, Morocco, and Egypt were the top three countries for woven fabric exports. During this period, Egypt led the way in woven fabric exports with 68.5%, followed by Bulgaria with a 54% increase. In the first eight months of the year, the highest yarn exports were to Italy, Egypt, and Portugal, respectively. The highest increase in yarn exports was recorded in Pakistan with 121%.
Over the last 12 months, covering the period from September 2024 to August 2025, there was a 5.5% decline in capacity utilization rates in the textile industry. The number of employees in the textile and apparel industries, which has remained below one million since August 2024, was announced as 904 in June 2025.