The impact of Turkish textile and apparel manufacturers moving their factories to Egypt is also reflected in export figures. While African and Asian countries stood out as the top export destinations in the first five months of the year, exports to Egypt increased by up to 50%.
According to the May 2025 evaluation report published by İTHİB, in the January-May period, the Turkish textile and raw materials industry realized an export worth 4.8 billion dollars with a 1.6% increase and ranked 8th in Türkiye’s overall exports with a 4.4% share. Apparel and garment exports decreased by 7.2% compared to the previous period and ranked 5th in overall exports with a 5.4% share, reaching a value of 6 billion dollars.
When the textile and apparel industries are evaluated together, they constitute the third largest export item with a share of 9.8% after the automotive and chemical substances/products industries. Türkiye’s overall exports increased by 3.5% in this period and reached 110.9 billion dollars.
Exports to African and Asian countries increased by up to 30 percent
Exports to European Union (EU) countries, which continue to maintain their first place in Turkish textile exports, increased by 0.6% in the first 5 months of the year. During this period, 2 billion dollars of exports were made to EU countries, and a 2% increase was recorded in terms of quantity.
Textile exports to African countries ranked second and increased by 24% to reach 650.2 million dollars, while there was a 30% increase in quantity.
Exports to the American countries, which ranked third, decreased by 2% compared to the same period last year, with exports worth 386 million dollars. American countries ranked 5th in terms of quantity, with an increase of 3.3%.
The biggest increase in terms of country groups was recorded in Asia and Oceania. During this period, exports to Asia and Oceania increased by 27.6%, reaching 370.8 million dollars. In terms of quantity, the increase rate rose to 42.2%.
The Turkish textile industry experienced the biggest increase in exports to Egypt with 44%
Italy continued to rank first in Turkish textile and raw material exports with a 0.7% increase in January-May 2025 compared to the same period last year. It was followed by the US and Germany with a decrease of 0.9% and 2.6% respectively. Following Spain, which ranked fourth with a 2% increase, Egypt attracted attention with a 44% increase rate.
In terms of quantity, exports to Egypt increased by 50.7%, while the largest increase was recorded in Pakistan with 85.4%.
Denim fabric exports on the rise
The product group with the highest exports in the first five months of the year was technical textiles. During this period, technical textile exports totaled 987 million dollars, with an increase of 5.8%, of which nonwovens accounted for 34.5%. During this period, the highest technical textile exports were made to the USA, Germany and Italy, respectively, while the highest increase of 38.4% was recorded in Morocco.
Technical textiles were followed by woven fabrics with a decrease of 1.5% and exports of 978 million dollars. Of these, 38.7% were cotton woven fabrics and 37.8% were SSE filament woven fabrics. Spain, Morocco and Italy were the top three in woven fabric exports, while the countries with the most woven fabric exports were Bulgaria with an increase of 46.2% and Egypt with an increase of 59.3%.
The yarn product group ranked 3rd with a 5.1% increase and 957 million dollars in exports. 35.3% of yarn exports were SSE filament yarn and 35.2% were cotton yarn. The highest yarn exports were made to Italy, Egypt and Portugal during this period. Pakistan drew attention with a 168.7% increase. Exports to Pakistan, which were worth 14,000 dollars in the same period last year, increased to 37.600 dollars during this period. In May 2025, a 354% increase was recorded compared to the same month of the previous year.
Next on the list was knitted fabric with a decrease of 8.4%, home textiles with a decrease of 1.7% and fiber with an increase of 11.5%. Last in line was denim fabric with an increase of 19.1%. A total of 128 million dollars worth of denim fabric exports were realized during this period.