Çağlayan is currently in Johannesburg, South Africa, with a delegation of more than 100 businessmen for trade talks with South African officials and to attend the Turkish-South African Business Forum, jointly organized by the Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade (DTM), the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TİM), the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) and the İstanbul Exporter Unions (İİB), which kicked off yesterday. Speaking to the businessmen ahead of the event, Çağlayan said Turkish businessmen avoid expanding into new markets, fearing the competitive advantage of their Chinese counterparts along with the adverse effects of the global financial crisis. To find ways of ensuring that businessmen will explore new markets, the ministry is planning to have talks with exporting committees, the minister said, adding that measures will be taken within the next 15 days to encourage businessmen.
Telling Turkish businessmen about the advantages of expanding into South Africa, Çağlayan said the market offers lucrative opportunities for the Turkish vehicle industry. He drew attention to the work of TUSKON in South Africa, saying the confederation acts as a bridge between Turkey and African countries, enhancing Turkey’s trade relations with those countries.
Turkey’s exports to South Africa climbed from $121.5 million in 2003 to $1.2 billion in 2008, accounting for a rise of 90 percent. Along with coal, automotive products, chromium and stainless steel, Turkey mostly imports gold from South Africa, which is also rich in diamonds, iron, manganese, nickel, phosphate, tin, uranium, copper, vanadium and salt. Turkey’s main exports to South Africa are automobiles, paper products and tractors. The amount of Turkish investments in South Africa has reached $60 million.
‘Exports can exceed $100 billion’
In an assessment of Turkey’s export figures released by TİM on Sunday, Çağlayan noted that if the upward trend carries on and monthly exports reach $10 million on average in the last two months of the year, total exports will exceed the medium-term economic program’s target of $98.5 billion, totaling more than $100 billion. According to the TİM data, Turkey’s exports increased by 4.62 percent in October over the same month of the previous year, reaching $9.95 billion. Drawing attention to the 19.2 percent increase in exports in October over the previous month, Çağlayan stated that the export figures have exceeded $9 billion for the first time since October 2008, approaching $10 billion. The government made efforts to minimize the adverse impact of the global financial crisis on the domestic market, as well as taking advantage of opportunities arising in foreign markets in the crisis, the minister said.
Explaining that motor vehicle exports rose by 17.5 percent and ready-to-wear exports rose by some 21.5 percent last month over the same month of 2008, Çağlayan said this data is a sign that industrial product exports are returning to pre-crisis levels.
October saw the highest export levels this year, the minister said, adding that export figures were predicted to rise above this level in the coming months. “We expect to attain a high growth rate in exports in the upcoming period especially thanks to the latest foreign trade strategies adopted by the government and the recovery starting to take place in foreign markets.” He added that the decline seen in Turkey’s exports stemmed not from domestic dynamics but primarily from the contraction experienced in the global economy, and especially in European economies due to the global financial crisis. He said that European economies are Turkey’s major trade partners, drawing nearly half of Turkish exports. In this regard, Çağlayan cited the small drop seen in the quantity of exported products against the sharp decline in export revenue as good evidence of this situation, explaining: “The revenue gained from agricultural product exports since the beginning of the year declined by about 5.5 percent compared to same period of last year even though the export quantity increased by some 23 percent. Again, industry product exports saw a 32.3 percent decrease in revenue, while the drop in quantity only totaled about 2.6 percent in this period.” He said their aim was to continue the upward trend seen in the quantity of exports despite the crisis.
As a recovery from the crisis has begun in the UK and Germany, both of which have the biggest share of Turkey’s ready-to-wear and apparel exports, the sector will enjoy high demand in the coming months, Çağlayan said. He added that the resolution of customs-related issues with Russia and good trade relations with Iran, given a trade target of $30 billion for the year 2011, will also have a positive impact on Turkey’s overall level of exports.
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