The Turkish textile and raw materials sector, the world’s 5th largest textile producer and exporter, concluded the year 2022, which started with an export target of 15 billion dollars, with exports worth 12.9 billion dollars with an increase of 0.6% compared to 2021. Türkiye’s textile and raw materials sector exports decreased by 17.3% to 991 million USD in December 2022, according to the ‘December 2022 Exports Performance Report’ published by Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Association (ITHIB). Its share in Türkiye’s overall exports, which increased by 3.1% in the same period and reached 22.9 billion dollars, was announced as 4.3%. Exports of industrial products decreased by 4.2% and were recorded as 16.2 billion USD in this period.
The biggest decrease was seen in December with a rate of 17.3% when the exports of textile and raw materials in 2022 were analysed on a monthly basis compared to 2021. Exports of textiles and raw materials, which were worth 1,198 million dollars in December 2021, decreased to 991 million dollars in December 2022. Exports in December 2022 decreased by 4.3% compared to November 2022. In the same period, the capacity utilisation rate, which was 71.3% in the manufacture of textile products, increased by 1.3% compared to November 2022, while a decrease of 11.5% was recorded compared to December 2021.
The highest exports of textile and raw materials in 2022 were made to the EU (27) countries, worth 5.6 billion dollars with a decrease of 5% compared to 2021. The second country group to which Türkiye exported the most textile and raw materials in 2022 was African countries. Exports to African countries increased by 7% in this period and reached 1.4 billion dollars.
Turkish textile exports declined by 6.9% in terms of quantity
Analysing the export of textile and raw materials in 2022 in terms of quantity, exports decreased by 6.9% to 2.7 million tonnes. Exports to EU countries in terms of quantity decreased by 8.8% to 1.1 million tonnes in this period. The second country group with the highest exports in terms of quantity in 2022 was African countries with a share of 11.4% and 308 thousand tonnes of exports.
Italy stood out as the most important export market on a quantity basis in 2022 with a share of 7.8%. Textile and raw materials exports to Italy decreased by 10.8% in terms of quantity and amounted to 212 thousand tonnes. Exports to Germany, ranking second, decreased by 1.3% to 182 thousand tonnes in 2022. The USA ranked third with a 7.1% increase and 166 thousand tonnes worth of exports. The country with the highest increase in exports among the top ten countries in 2022 was Iran with an increase of 30% and 95 thousand tonnes worth of exports, while the country with the highest decrease was the UK with a 21.4% decrease and 112 thousand tonnes worth of exports.
The countries with the highest increase in exports are Iran, Morocco and Spain
Evaluating the prominent countries in Türkiye’s textile and raw materials exports in 2022, the most important export market was Italy. Textile and raw materials exports to Italy in this period increased by 0.6% to 1.1 billion dollars. The second country with the highest textile and raw materials exports in this period is Germany. Türkiye’s textile and raw materials exports to Germany decreased by 4.7% to 987 million dollars. The third most important export market in textile and raw materials exports was the USA, which had a share of 6.7% in Türkiye’s total textile and raw materials exports. Exports to the USA increased by 3.1% in 2022 and totalled 866 million USD. The fourth and fifth largest export markets in 2022 were Spain and the UK, respectively. Among the top 10 countries to which Türkiye exported the highest amount of textile and raw materials in this period, the countries with the highest increase in exports were Iran with 31.1% increase, Morocco with 22.7% and Spain with 15.2%.
2022 export champion is woven fabric
Woven fabric stood out as a product group in Türkiye’s textile and raw materials sector exports in 2022 with an increase of 9.1%. The most important sub-product group was woven fabric from synthetic-artificial filament yarns with a share of 38% and an export value of 979 million dollars. While 38.3% of Türkiye’s woven fabric exports were made to EU countries, exports to these countries increased by 0.6% in 2022 to 987 million USD.
Yarn, which is the second product group with the highest exports in the same period, decreased by 4.6% and exports worth 2.5 billion dollars were recorded. The most important sub-product group was yarns from synthetic-artificial filament fibres with an export value of 906 million dollars and a share of 35.8% in total yarn exports. Exports of cotton yarn, which is the second largest sub-product group with a share of 31.3% in total yarn exports, decreased by 11.4% in 2022 and totalled 793 million USD. Exports of technical textiles, the third important product group, increased by 0.8% in 2022 to 2.4 billion USD.
Home textile exports decreased by 4.8% to 2.2 billion USD in 2022, while knitted fabric exports decreased by 4.6% to 2 billion USD. Fibre exports increased by 13.4% to 1.2 billion dollars, while exports of the garment sub-industry sector increased by 5.2% to 573 million dollars in 2022.
Türkiye’s denim fabric exports decreased by 3.1% to 295 million USD in 2022. The most important country in denim fabric exports was Tunisia with 72 million dollars exports and 24.5% share, while Egypt ranked second with 14.4% share and 43 million dollars worth of exports. Morocco came in the third place with a share of 10.4% and exports worth 31 million dollars.