TİM Chairman Assesses 2022 Export Figures

Turkish Exporters Council President Reviews 2022 Export Figures Mustafa Gültepe, President of the Turkish Exporters Council (TİM), stated in his remarks that 2022 was challenging for both the global economy and developing countries. Nevertheless, he noted that Turkey's economic performance overall and exporters' achievements in particular left their mark on the past year. Gültepe made the following comments regarding TİM's efforts on this path crowned with records: "In 2022, we did not leave a single country in the world unacquainted with Turkish products. We added 21,501 companies to our export family. With these companies, we achieved exports worth 3 billion 700 million dollars. While increasing our exports to 162 countries, we set export records in 108 countries. We increased the number of countries to which we export over 1 billion dollars to 52. Germany, the United States, Iraq, the United Kingdom and Italy became our top 5 export destinations. While 16 of our sectors set export records, exports from 23 of our sectors exceeded the 1 billion dollar threshold. Last year, as TİM and exporter unions, we organized 72 trade delegations in 43 countries. We hosted 38 purchasing delegations with participants from over 100 countries in our country. We participated in a total of 184 fairs domestically and internationally. We increased our unit export value by 14.7 percent, bringing it to USD 1.44."

"We will participate in 250 fairs in 55 countries in 2023"

Mustafa Gültepe stated that by digitalization that facilitated business processes last year, they accelerated exports further, and as a result, they achieved a new export record. Gültepe reported that in 2023, marking the 100th anniversary of the Republic and the 30th anniversary of TİM's establishment, they would organize 100 trade delegations in 60 countries and conduct 45 purchasing delegations hosting participants from 120 countries, and said they would participate in a total of 250 fairs in 55 countries. Announcing that they would increase the number of Ur-Ge projects to 32, Gültepe said: "Together with our unions under the TİM umbrella, through collective wisdom and consultation, we will move toward the goal of being among the 10 countries with the most exports. In short, we will not distinguish between day and night; we will continue on our path. We will wave the export flag at much higher levels. Let this be our promise to you and our nation…" Noting that he had certain expectations from President Erdoğan and the economic administration to achieve export targets, Gültepe stated: "The reductions made in the prices of electricity and natural gas used in industry at the beginning of the new year were a great morale boost for all of us. On behalf of our export family, I present our gratitude to you. However, to maintain our competitive strength, we expect another equal amount of reduction from you. To realize our major export goals, we must increase our production capacity and renew our technological infrastructure. Therefore, we believe the Central Bank and Eximbank should provide more support to our exporters through long-term financing loans in this process. We expect all investments related to green transition and digitalization to be included in the support scope without regional discrimination. We request that the inflation accounting application be advanced to include 2022 in order to preserve the capital structures of our companies. Finally, we await good news from you for a modern fair center befitting our Istanbul." Source