Chemical Sector Export Figures for July Announced

According to data from the Istanbul Chemical Materials and Products Exporters Association (İKMİB), the chemicals sector achieved USD 1.7 billion in exports in July with a 17.93% increase compared to July 2018. Thus, chemicals, which has continued as the second-ranking sector throughout 2019 in a consistent manner, reached USD 11.7 billion in seven-month exports with an 18.86% increase.

Adil Pelister, Chairman of the Board of Management, Istanbul Chemical Materials and Products Exporters Association (İKMİB):

The export performance of the chemicals industry, one of Turkey's largest exporting sectors, continues to rise. As a chemicals sector, we are making steady, rapid progress towards our USD 20 billion export target. Our chemicals sector, which has ranked second in exports for seven consecutive months, achieved USD 1 billion 741 million in July exports with a 17.93% increase compared to the same period last year. Our seven-month chemicals exports rose to USD 11.7 billion with an 18.86% increase. We anticipate that the Central Bank's recent decision to cut interest rates by 425 basis points will provide a highly positive contribution to our exporters. Bringing the interest rate below the psychological threshold of 20% was extremely important. The role and driving force of exports in the economic stabilisation process is steadily increasing. We firmly believe that as the real sector's financing costs decline in the coming period, new investments in industry will be facilitated. Given global market developments, we should properly evaluate the Federal Reserve's first rate cut in 11 years, reducing policy rates by 25 basis points. With the stability achieved in foreign exchange rates continuing, we are experiencing a process favourable to the chemicals sector and our chemical exporters. We believe that direct and established investments will increase in sub-sectors such as petrochemicals, which have a major impact on our chemicals sector. In the coming period, alongside our products diversified specifically for each market and our strategy of entering new markets, we will continue working with all our strength to bring chemical exports to peak levels," he said. In July, the Netherlands was the country with the highest exports. Following the Netherlands in the top ten countries exporting in July were, in order: Egypt, Iraq, Germany, Greece, Italy, Iran, Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom. Chemical exports to the Netherlands in July 2019 amounted to USD 156 million 539 thousand. In July, "mineral fuels, mineral oils and products", "plastics and articles", "inorganic chemicals", "miscellaneous chemical substances", "organic chemicals", "essential oils, cosmetics and soap", and "rubber and rubber articles" were the most exported to the Netherlands. Seven-month chemical exports to the Netherlands this year reached USD 574 million 752 thousand. In the January-July 2019 period, the top ten countries for chemical exports were Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Iraq, Malta, Egypt, Italy, the United States, Greece and the United Kingdom.  

2019 Monthly Chemicals Exports

Month	2018 Value (USD)	2019 Value (USD)	Difference (%)
January	1,353,535,064.91	1,539,710,775.52	13.75%
February	1,265,532,025.44	1,645,131,973.94	30.00%
March	1,566,978,246.63	1,834,418,352.60	17.07%
April	1,353,909,699.99	1,770,203,378.18	30.75%
May	1,467,443,906.34	1,946,230,940.24	32.63%
June	1,423,569,213.39	1,298,898,901.66	-8.76%
July	1,477,111,032.27	1,741,926,137.94	17.93%

 

Top Chemical Export Countries in July 2019

No.	Country	July 2018 Value (USD)	July 2019 Value (USD)	Change (%)
1	Netherlands	26,528,130.82	156,539,794.34	490.09%
2	Egypt	59,903,364.48	103,444,455.72	72.69%
3	Iraq	77,378,877.38	89,914,805.13	16.20%
4	Germany	74,934,213.10	77,184,064.15	3.00%
5	Greece	34,908,024.63	71,458,976.70	104.71%
6	Italy	44,231,747.20	61,383,807.88	38.78%
7	Iran (Islamic Rep.)	31,547,304.48	56,490,948.29	79.07%
8	Spain	34,206,257.64	56,201,513.45	64.30%
9	United States of America	168,811,221.44	52,687,930.17	-68.79%
10	United Kingdom	40,979,618.72	50,022,571.36	22.07%

 

Chemicals Sector Subsectors in July 2019 Exports

			2018-2019
	July 2018	July 2019	% Difference
Product Group	Value (USD)	Value (USD)	Value
Plastics and articles	504,007,399	575,631,341	14.21%
Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products	247,709,047	389,602,495	57.28%
Inorganic chemicals	167,563,160	167,498,255	-0.04%
Rubber and rubber articles	106,842,080	108,507,551	1.56%
Essential oils, cosmetics and soap	100,882,393	108,177,066	7.23%
Pharmaceutical products	77,180,060	91,677,072	18.78%
Paints, varnishes, inks and preparations	71,958,794	77,589,393	7.82%
Miscellaneous chemical substances	58,670,327	69,750,606	18.89%
Organic chemicals	47,795,447	58,970,615	23.38%
Cleaning preparations	39,269,074	42,750,795	8.87%
Fertilisers	37,557,986	29,279,811	-22.04%
Adhesives, glues, enzymes	15,931,259	20,252,096	27.12%
Products used in photography and cinematography	851,977	1,352,891	58.79%
Gunpowder, explosives and derivatives	844,139	778,557	-7.77%
Glycerin, vegetable products, degras, fatty substances	28,301	100,720	255.89%
Processed asbestos and mixtures, articles	19,589	6,872	-64.92%
Total	1,477,111,032	1,741,926,138	17.93%