Turkish machinery sector focuses on US, Russian markets

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's machinery sector is focusing on the U.S and Russian markets as the growth in the eurozone is having a slowdown, said head of the Machinery Exporters’ Association (MAIB).

The sector exported machinery worth $11.6 billion in the first eight months of this year, Kutlu Karavelioglu said in a statement.

The sector's export volume surged 13.8% year-on-year to 2 million tons during January-August period, Karavelioglu said.

Noting that machinery products took the lion share from the U.S. imports from Turkey, he said: "The U.S.'s additional taxes on Chinese products create opportunities for Turkish machinery exporters considering the U.S. of which share is 16.5% in the global machinery import market makes its 30% of machinery imports from China."

Karavelioglu noted the MAIB will conduct a study for introducing Turkish machinery brands in the U.S., and it will make efforts to raise exports to the U.S. from $1.3 billion to $2 billion annually.

Meanwhile, the sector's exports to Russia rose by 21% during the first eight months to reach $308 million, he stressed.

"We aim to accelerate these exports during the last four months of the year. We are working for make Russia one of the our four largest market again," he said.