The report, released yesterday by the Export Promotion Center of the Undersecretariat of the Prime Ministry for Foreign Trade (İGEME), focused on export strategies targeting China and indicated various focal points for gaining a share of the Chinese market.
Emphasizing that not enough has been done to promote Turkey within China, the report highlighted the importance for Turkey’s tourism industry of the 190 million high-income earners living in the coastal regions of China with the ability to travel. It added that not being known posed a disadvantage to the economic relations between the two countries.
Noting that except for countries from which it imports petroleum, China has a trade surplus with nearly all countries it trades with, the report said this surplus had reached an intolerable level and that this imbalance needed to be shown to China. On this note, the report highlighted that China had begun increasing its imports from countries with which it had large trade surpluses.
The report emphasized that Turkish firms looking to sell their products to China need to attend trade fairs and noted that doing business in China is difficult and almost impossible without a full-time representative there. As for products which Turkish businesses should target for export to China, the report highlighted tobacco, sweets and chocolates, olive oil, pasta, raisins, hazelnuts, citrus fruits and sauces as products with strong export potential.
