The machinery industry was one of the three segments of the Turkish industry, which increased their exports more than others in 2018. Pointing out that the machinery industry increased its exports 15.5% and its total exports reached US$ 17.1 billion, Kutlu Karavelioğlu, chairman of Machinery Exporters’ Association, said:
“We are one of the two countries with China which have increased their machinery exports. Such a high rate of increase in the technology-centered industry is not an accomplishment that you could frequently witness.
We aim at doubling our exports in 5 years while maintaining our annual growth rate of 15% and reaching US$ 34 billion in 2023.”
Accounting for 10.1 percent of Turkey’s total exports, the machinery industry raised the rate of exports meeting imports to 64%. The industry exports 60% of its products to the European Union and the USA and its average unit prices per kilogram rose up to US$ 6.1.
Noting that the value of 323 thousand tons of increase in machinery exports in 2018 was US$ 2.3 billion, Karavelioğlu said that they surpassed the global increase in machinery exports by four times in 2018. He went on to say: “We have increased our machinery exports 10 times since 2001.
We minimized the adverse effects of economic fluctuations as a result of our endeavors last year.
Relying on our technological advantages, we prevented importers from turning exchange rate fluctuations into an opportunity and maintained the reputation of Turkish machinery brands without cutting our unit prices.
We will further enhance the brand perception of our machinery through our innovations in advanced technology and innovation.”
