TURKEY:Textile sector shows signs of recovery with recent performance of exports

November 17 2009

TURKEY:Textile sector shows signs of recovery with recent performance of exports

Textile Workers’ Union Vice President Muzaffer Subaşı revealed yesterday that the Turkish textile sector is doing well in terms of production and that factories in southeastern Anatolia have even been working overtime to fill orders.

Subaşı told the Anatolia news agency that the Turkish textile sector continued to contribute to Turkey’s development and welfare “even if the problems and difficulties of the sector are ignored.” He added that the sector was showing signs of recovering from the economic crisis.

Subaşı did not attach much importance to assertions that producers were not making money, adding that “production is going well and workers are staying overtime to fill orders.

There’s also an increase in exports. All of the signs that the sector is exiting the crisis are there. Yes, it might be that we are not making as much money as before, but we are still making money.” Southeastern Anatolia has experienced a spike in exports recently, with a 22 percent increase in exports in October 2009 over a year ago. The region’s exports in the first nine months of the year compared to the first three quarters of 2008 dropped by 9 percent; the October rise, however, reduced that figure to 6 percent for the 10-month period.

Source: ZAMAN