Türkiye’s machinery exports in January reach $2.1B

By Ugur Aslanhan and Emir Yildirim

ISTANBUL (AA) – Türkiye’s machinery exports fell 2.4% year-on-year to $2.1 billion in January, according to data from the Turkish Machinery Exporters’ Association released on Thursday.

Turkish machinery exports in January fell 5.7% in quantity while export unit prices per kilogram climbed 2.7% to $7.4.

The largest increase in machinery exports was in food industry machinery with 19%, followed by load lifting, transportation, and stacking machinery with 16%, and textile and garment machinery with 15%.

Germany, the US, Italy, the UK, and Russia were the top destinations for Turkish machinery exports in January.

Kutlu Karavelioglu, the association’s head, said in a statement that the global goods trade volume has yet to reach the desired level, noting that the machinery orders’ Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) signaled a continuing decline in investments both in Türkiye and worldwide.

“The new US administration’s trade and political intervention and countermeasures by other countries drive investments into a stalemate, including in Türkiye, as investments are being postponed due to high interest rate while production continues to decline in machinery and equipment industry,” he said. “It would be the correct approach to protect and support engineering-focused sectors as much as labor-intensive ones.”

Karavelioglu said urgent measures are necessary to close the over $15 billion machinery sector foreign trade deficit through agreements as well as ensuring competitiveness.

“Maintaining the additional customs duties on machinery imported from countries other than the EU and countries we have free trade agreements with, and even making limited additions and relative increases to the duties we impose on them, is a positive step in this direction,” he added.