Exports numbers have reached $21,69 billion

With the textile and automotive sectors in the lead, export increased 34.6 percent in comparison to the first half of 2002. The export of ready-made clothes rose 25.3 percent to $5,48 billion, and the export of automobiles and the sub industry increased 15.5 percent to $3,37 during the first 6 months of the year. This record increase diminishes worries about the recent gain in the Turkish Lira. TIM Chairman Oguz Satici said that Euro is becoming more preferable to dollar in export markets, and that Euro markets have increased 60 percent in the export.

‘We are having a Guerilla War’

Stating that exporters are thought to want a high rate of exchange but that they really want a realistic rate of exchange, Satici said: "We want a rate of exchange which is in harmony with costs and inflation. If the exchange rate is floating, other circumstances should be open to rivalry as well. If the exporter continues to sell with present prices, it won’t be easy to show the same success at the end of the year." Noting that the import export ratio has been gradually reduced, Satici stated that there could be a devaluation risk if this process becomes uncontrollable. Stating they could not do long term planning due to low exchange rates, Satici went on to say: "We do not have a regular army as Turkish exporters. We adapt ourselves to daily developments like guerilla warriors. And this shows how our export has high mobility. If we did not applied guerilla tactics, the export would be much lower than it is today’.

Towels, sheets, bathrobes, nightclothes and blue jeans quotas filled every May did not get filled this year since the dollar exchange rate is low due to the quotas applied by US to Turkish textile products. Since Euro has become more valuable than the dollar, Turkish exporters have begun to work with European Union countries.

Economy Services / Istanbul /