Turkey's furniture, paper, forestry exports hit $3.5B

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkey exported furniture, paper, and forestry products worth $3.5 billion in the first eight months of this year, an industry group said on Tuesday.

At $2.1 billion, furniture products accounted for the lion’s share of the exports, according to the Istanbul Furniture, Paper and Forestry Products Exporters’ Association.

Germany, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Libya were the leading importers of Turkish products from January to August, the group said in a statement.

Turkey’s furniture exports to the US rose by 6% in the same period on a yearly basis, it added.

Furniture exports have been on the rise since June, following a consistent decline over the first five months of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Turkey is the 13th largest furniture manufacturer in the world, according to Ahmet Gulec, head of the association.

“As with all other sectors, the pandemic adversely affected the production and export of furniture,” he said.

He added that Turkey’s furniture exports are expected to hit $4 billion by the end of the year.

“Our share in the world furniture export market is 1.4% – our target is reaching 2.5% as of 2023,” said Gulec.

In the first eight months of 2020, Turkey’s overall exports amounted to $102.5 billion.