Muğla Export Champions Receive Their Awards

Muğla Export Champions Receive Awards Muğla, one of Turkey's tourism centers, recorded exports worth USD 774 million in 2021. While Muğla aimed for USD 1 billion in exports in 2022, the Aegean Exporters Associations organized the "Muğla Export Stars Award Ceremony" for Muğla's top 5 exporters, which earned Turkey USD 555 million in foreign currency in 2021. At the "Aegean Export Meetings-Muğla" gathering, held in cooperation with the Aegean Exporters Associations and Dünya Gazetesi, hosted by Bodrum Chamber of Commerce, Muğla export champions received their awards.

Aquaculture Sector Dominates Top Three

KLC Gıda Ürünleri İth. İhr. A.Ş., a company from Kılıç Holding, which has maintained Turkey's leading position in aquaculture and animal products for many years, became Muğla's export champion. The second and third largest exporters from Muğla also came from the aquaculture sector. Gümüşdoğa Su Ürünleri Üretim İhracat ve İthalat A.Ş. ranked as the second largest exporter from Muğla, while Noordzee Su Ürün. İhr. San. ve Tic. A.Ş. took third place.

Two of Muğla's Export Champions from Mining Sector

The mining sector, which was the second-largest contributor to Muğla's exports in 2021 with USD 106 million, was represented by two firms on the 2021 Muğla export champions list. Ermaş Madencilik Turizm Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. became the fourth largest exporter from Muğla, while Mikroman Maden Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. entered the list in fifth place. Speaking at the opening of the "Aegean Export Meetings-Muğla" gathering held at Bodrum Chamber of Commerce, Aegean Exporters Associations Coordinator Chair Jak Eskinazi noted that Muğla unites the Aegean Region and Mediterranean Region and is a city of tourism, agriculture, mining, and exports. Eskinazi, reporting that Muğla increased its 2020 exports of USD 585 million to USD 774 million in 2021 with a 32 percent increase, said: "Our aquaculture sector generated 68 percent of Muğla's exports with USD 528 million in exports. Our mining sector came in second with USD 106 million in exports, while our fresh fruits and vegetables sector ranked third with USD 44 million in exports. Muğla's export growth rate continues into 2022. In the January-April period of 2022, Muğla increased its exports from USD 220 million to USD 272 million with a 24 percent increase. We expect our Muğla exporters to exceed the USD 1 billion threshold this year," he said. Eskinazi, noting that exporters' working capital has eroded due to rising costs in recent times, concluded his remarks as follows: "In this process, export companies' financing needs are greater than ever. Turkish Eximbank, the exporter's friend in hard times, participated in our meeting to provide support. Turkey is targeting USD 250 billion in exports for 2022. As the Aegean Exporters Associations, we are working to contribute USD 19 billion to these exports. Sustainability, digitalization, design, and R&D are the topics we are concentrating on."

Kocadon: "We Have 197 Exporter Members"

Bodrum Chamber of Commerce Chair Mahmut Serdar Kocadon, who delivered the opening remarks of the event, said: "I believe it would be important to establish a Service Exporters Association centered on the Aegean Region given the contribution of the service industry to the economy. I believe a step needs to be taken on this matter," as he addressed the Aegean Region's contribution to exports. Chair Kocadon, noting that construction and tourism are the most important sectors of the district's economy, said: "Aquaculture is also among the sectors in which we have ambitions. 197 of our members are also members of the Aegean Exporters Associations. We have a wide range of products exported, from home-brewed beer to furniture. Just as textiles are a significant export item in Denizli and machinery in Aydın, yacht manufacturing was once a major foreign currency item in Bodrum. God willing, we will make serious progress in this area going forward. Marble exports are prominent in Muğla. We are proud that Kılıç Su Ürünleri, Turkey's leader in aquaculture exports, is among our members. In food, exporters from the Aegean cover 22 percent of the country's exports. In 2019, tourism professionals from the Aegean generated 12 percent of tourism revenues. In the coming period, tourism's contribution to the national economy will increase further. I would like to thank the Aegean Exporters Associations, Dünya Gazetesi, our esteemed panelists, and guests for their participation and contributions," he said.

Timurhan: "USD 254 Million Support from Eximbank to Muğla"

Turkish Eximbank Aegean Region Director Gülom Timurhan noted that they hold the position of the 8th bank with the largest credit volume in Turkey's banking sector. Timurhan, recalling that as of the end of 2021, with USD 22.5 billion in credit support, Eximbank provides approximately 50 percent of the sector's cash export credits, said: "At a time when pandemic-related uncertainties affected the entire world, we secured USD 3.3 billion in funds from international capital markets in 2021 and made them available to our exporters. We are also Turkey's largest credit insurance institution. As of the end of 2021, the amount of insured export receivables reached USD 23.6 billion. Thus, the support we provided to exports reached USD 46.1 billion in 2021. The number of our exporter customers who actively benefit from our bank's support exceeded 14,000. As a result of our strategy to distribute export support to the grassroots level, while 60 percent of SMEs utilizing our bank's services in 2017, this rate reached 77 percent in 2021. We prioritize SMEs in credit use. We primarily allocate TL credits to SMEs. We provide credit to SMEs at more favorable rates. With Export Development A.Ş., which we established jointly with TIM, becoming operational as of 1 March, a new era began in export financing. With the guarantee of this institution, we offer our SMEs credit with a maximum 12-month maturity. Under the protocol we signed with KGF, we began lending to our exporters or SMEs operating in foreign currency-earning sectors with KGF guarantees," he said. Emphasizing that Muğla achieved USD 774 million in exports in 2021 with a 23 percent increase compared to previous years, Timurhan said: "As a bank, in 2021, we provided a total of USD 254 million in support to Muğla exports, comprising USD 27 million in cash credit and USD 227 million in credit insurance. To directly contact our exporters, see their needs on-site, and better meet them, we provide services at 33 different points with a total of 23 branches and 10 liaison offices, including our Diyarbakır branch that became operational this year. We continue close contact with our exporters by covering the provinces that generate more than 90 percent of total exports. In line with our country's 2023 vision and objectives, we launched a strategic transformation program in 2020 to provide direction to our bank's export support strategy and align our working system with exemplary country models. In this direction, while our bank streamlines and accelerates processes through a digital-focused approach, we acquired a new website and mobile branch in 2021 to achieve a structure that can serve exporters without branch dependence. Our goal is to reach Turkish Eximbank's capabilities to many more of our exporters and support them in global competition. We are proud of our country's 2021 export record. We will continue to provide our full support to reach our 2022 export target of USD 250 billion," he said.