Turkish Forum

Tag: Exports

  • Trade to Europe delays due to border gate queue

    Trade to Europe delays due to border gate queue

    EDIRNE – Anatolia News Agency

    trade to europe delays due to border gate queue 2011 11 06 l

    Turkey’s trade to Europe has slowed down due to fewer border gate officials working on the Bulgarian border gate as a long queue of trucks spends days to pass the border from Turkey to European markets.

    Nearly 700 trucks formed a queue of 7 km on Turkey’s Bulgarian border, according to border gate officials, Anatolia news agency reported. Bulgarian officials decreased the number of shifts on the Bulgarian border gate, which slowed traffic between Turkey and Europe, said Turkish border gate officials speaking on the condition of anonymity.

    “We waited for almost two days in Halkalı district of Istanbul and now have been waiting for another two days by the border gate,” said Mustafa Güdücü, a Turkish truck driver. Transporting automotive spare parts from Turkey’s northern province of Düzce to Germany, Güdücü said, “Due to traffic juncture it took us 30 hours from Istanbul to the border gate.”

    ”I have not slept for nearly 24 hours and all our desire is to pass the border gate,” truck driver Ali Çelikbaş said.

    Fazlı Şisa, the driver of a loaded truck, said: “We are celebrating a sad Feast of the Sacrifice as we are not with our families, but waiting here for days.”

    Long waits in border gate increase transportation costs

    Long queues at the border gates of the country increased transportation costs and caused delays in the deliveries of export materials, Engin Özmen, chairman of the Association of International Transporters (UND) said yesterday.

    In Halkalı and Erenköy customs houses, Turkish exporters are having serious problems, Özmen said. “Long queues of trucks and cars waiting for many hours increase transportation costs and prevent products from reaching destinations on time.”

    Özmen said the Turkish government should regulate the borders in a more efficient way as the recent cases demonstrate that two customs houses in Istanbul have already exceeded their capacities. Lack of efficiency in customs houses causes slower deliveries of orders, Özmen said.

    via Trade to Europe delays due to border gate queue – Hurriyet Daily News.

  • Turkey’s olive oil exports expected to reach $5 bln by 2023

    Turkey’s olive oil exports expected to reach $5 bln by 2023

    16 October 2011, Sunday / NAMIK KEMAL PARLAK, AKHISAR

    Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) President Mehmet Büyükekşi said he expects olive and olive oil exports this year to reach $300 million, increase almost by 100 percent next year and total up to $5 billion by 2023, while speaking at the Third Akhisar Harvest Festival on Sunday.

    zeytin oil

    Büyükekşi also said any sector that helps reduce the county’s current account deficit is very important and hopes the increase in exports will help to end the deficit. He said olive and olive oil products are very important in the region, which is trying to create its own regional trademark as well as increase the country’s exports.

    Incentives provided by the Ministry of Agriculture helped increase olive and olive oil production in Turkey, which is number five in olive oil production and number four in the number of olive trees in the world. Newly planted olive tree will be available for harvest in three years, at which time production will increase three-and-a-half fold.

    TİM board member Ali Nedim Güreli told participants at the festival that the technology in Turkish olive and olive oil production facilities is far better than facilities in Spain and Italy and said, “Turkey will become the second largest producer in a couple of years with an output of 600,000 tons of olive oil and 800,000 tons of olives, which will enable the country to have a say in setting prices in the sector as output in the country increases.”

    Akhisar Commodities Exchange President Emin Demirci emphasized that the sector exports to 62 countries and said the latest equipment was used this year, which helps reduce costs during olive harvesting. He also stated that they will continue their attempts to expand the use of new equipment by securing rural development support provided by the government to help the agriculture sector begin implementing same technology and techniques as those used in European Union countries.

    The festival was held for the third time this year in Akhisar, a district in the western province of Manisa, where the first olive harvest of the year was picked by farmers during the festival. Akhisar, which has 12 million olive trees, is known for having the largest number of olive trees in Turkey and recently has been trying to brand its name in the sector. New equipment that was bought for the olive harvest was also introduced at the festival.

    via Turkey’s olive oil exports expected to reach $5 bln by 2023.

  • Turkey’s arms exports not affected by unrest, report says

    Turkey’s arms exports not affected by unrest, report says

    MIDDLE EAST: Turkey’s arms exports not affected by unrest, report says

    Is Turkey’s role in the Middle East centrist, or just plain cynical?

    Ankara’s arms trade with Middle Eastern and North African countries is thriving, according to local reports, despite popular uprisings across the region against governments described by the protest movement and others as repressive and corrupt.

    turks evacuated libya

    One senior procurement official with knowledge of defense contracts described the current industry climate as “business as usual” to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News.

    “Egypt is a market and partner with previously signed contracts,” he said.

    “Tunisia and Libya were prospective markets. They still are for the longer term,” he added. “As the dust settles we will roll up our sleeves to help the [Turkish] industry for new contracts…future contracts will come up as soon as stability has been restored.”

    Turkey’s total arms exports are expected to reach $1.5 billion this year, with the Middle East and North Africa accounting for a significant chunk.

    Hurriyet Daily News’ report coincides with calls from the Libyan rebels for stronger Turkish support.

    Abdel Hafidh Ghoga, deputy leader of the opposition Libyan National Council, was quoted by the Anatolia News Agency asking Turkey to condemn Libyan leader Muammar Kadafi and officially recognize the revolutionary movement.

    In the past, Turkey has sought to position itself as a moderate in the region, maintaining close ties with its Arab neighbors as well as Israel, Iran, and the United States. This has made it reluctant to take strong positions that may harm relations with the leaders of those countries.

    Turkey is certainly not alone when it comes to arming Arab states with less than stellar records on human rights and democracy. In fact, Hurriyet Daily News noted that at least one of the contracts is for upgrades to American-made vehicles and equipment.

    The U.S. has been criticized for forking over billions of dollars in mostly military aid to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during his 30-year rule. Appearing to respond to mounting public pressure, the Obama administration finally announced it was reviewing that aid package just weeks before Mubarak stepped down.

    The U.S. also gave millions of dollars in military aid to Tunisia under President Zine al Abadine Ben Ali, who was driven into exile by a popular uprising that erupted late last year and sparked similar protests across the region in Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Algeria and elsewhere.

    The U.S. recently made its largest arms sale ever, worth some $60 billion, to Saudi Arabia, which banned protests on Saturday following unrest in largely Shia areas of the oil-rich Sunni-dominated kingdom.

    –Meris Lutz

    Photo: Turkish citizens evacuated from Libya return home. Credit: Reuters

    via MIDDLE EAST: Turkey’s arms exports not affected by unrest, report says | Babylon & Beyond | Los Angeles Times.

  • Turkish Foreign Trade Minister Says Exports To Exceed $112 Bln This Year

    Turkish Foreign Trade Minister Says Exports To Exceed $112 Bln This Year

    201210 caglayanTurkish foreign trade minister said on Sunday that Turkish exports would exceed 112 billion U.S. dollars this year.

    State Minister for foreign trade Zafer Caglayan delivered a speech at a parliamentary session on 2011 budget of Foreign Trade Undersecretariat.

    Caglayan said that Turkey weathered global crisis successfully and the Turkish banking sector was not affected by crisis.

    “In 2008, exports were 132 billion U.S. dollars and it was a great achievement. The figure dropped to 102.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2009,” he said.

    Caglayan said that the country’s exports would exceed 112 billion U.S. dollar in 2010.

    Turkey would reach 500 billion U.S. dollars of exports in 2023, he added.

    AA

  • Turkey’s southeast makes more exports to Iraq than EU states

    Turkey’s southeast makes more exports to Iraq than EU states

    Turkey’s southeast made two-and-a-half folds more exports to Iraq than EU member countries, the head of a regional exporters’ association said.

    Wednesday, 08 December 2010 11:38

    iraqTurkey’s southeast made two-and-a-half folds more exports to Iraq than European Union (EU) member countries, the head of a regional exporters’ association said on Wednesday.

    Abdulkadir Cikmaz, the chairman of the Southeastern Anatolia Exporters’ Association (GAIB), said the region made 2.081 billion USD of its overall 4.533 billion USD of exports to Iraq in the first eleven months of 2010.

    “The region earned 34.4 million USD from its aqua-product and animal product exports to Iraq,” Cikmaz told AA correspondent.

    According to Cikmaz, the Southeastern Anatolia Region made cereal exports to Iraq worth 475.8 million USD, dried fruit exports worth 9.2 million USD, textile exports worth 621.8 million USD, and carpet exports worth 84.7 million USD in the mentioned period.

    Cikmaz said exports to Iraq were up 39 percent year-on-year in the first eleven months of 2010. The region earned 1.4 billion USD from its exports to Iraq in the same period of 2009.

    “GAIB’s exports to EU member states in the first 11 months of this year was only 874.9 million USD,” Cikmaz said.

    Cikmaz said Iraq continued to be a significant foreign market for the Southeastern Anatolia Region.

    The region’s exports to EU member states were up 15 percent, and its total exports were up 30 percent year-on-year between January and November 2010.

    AA

  • Turkey’s automotive industry expects all-time record

    Turkey’s automotive industry expects all-time record

    ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

    Interest rates are vital for the automotive indusrry, Toyota Turkey's CEO Ali Haydar Bozkurt. AA photo

    The automotive industry is close to breaking a sector record for all-times sales this year, with an expected 735,000 passenger cars, said Ali Haydar Bozkurt, chief executive of Toyota Turkey.

    A total of 729,000 passenger cars were sold in Turkey in 2005, the previous record-setting year.

    The sector started 2010 with low expectations due to the economic crisis, Bozkurt told Anatolia news agency on Sunday in the southern province of Adana.

    “We did not even set a target for 2009,” he said.

    The sector benefited from the government’s decision to lift the Special Consumption Tax, or SCT, temporarily in 2009, he said. “For 2010, officials told us openly not to expect any tax further support.

    “The lack of support and the continuing crisis raised no hopes. Everyone was expecting the wounds of the crisis to be treated after 2011. But unexpectedly the markets started doing well. One of the main causes for this was the low interest rates.”

    As 70 percent of passenger car sales in Turkey are made with bank loans, interest rates are vital for the industry, the Toyoto CEO said.

    The low rates made automobiles much more accessible, he said. “Ten or 15 years ago people with savings had to decide whether to buy a car or a flat. But today automobiles cost nearly as little as a plasma TV.”

    Earlier, consumers tended to replace their first-hand cars after eight years, but this period has fallen to three years, Bozkurt said.

    Toyota’s sales expectations were for 26,500 cars at the beginning of the year, but they revised the figure upward to 38,000 due to a rise in sales.