Turkey’s textile and clothing industry has developed rapidly over the past 20 years, thanks to the availability of home grown cotton and a relatively cheap and skilled labour force. The sector also enjoys a good geographical location, being close to Europe but also well-placed to exploit neighbouring markets in Russia, Central Asia and the Middle East. The industry has developed a strong technological ability—due, in part, to the significant amount of contract work it has undertaken for European and US brands. For the same reasons, it has established strong relationships with customers—especially those in Europe, which were cemented by the Customs Union in 1996. However, Turkey’s position in European and US markets started to appear increasingly vulnerable with the phasing-out of quotas, which had helped to protect Turkish interests by restricting exports from low cost competitors. Turkish firms feared that they would lose up to a third of their exports to Western Europe and North America because of a flood of cheap goods into those markets from China and other Asian sources. In response, Turkey campaigned hard for the temporary re-imposition of quotas against China, in accordance with the safeguard clause included in the Protocol of China’s accession to the WTO. At the same time the Turkish industry embarked on a vigorous campaign to move upmarket by adding value through innovation and superior design. The re-imposition of quotas against China has given Turkey valuable breathing space in which to develop this strategy.

Summary

Introduction
Industry development
Industry structure
Competitive position

Raw cotton production

Cotton yarn manufacture

Man-made fibres and yarns

Wool fibres and yarns

Textiles
Knitted textiles
Woven textiles
Textile exports
Textile imports

Clothing
Clothing exports
Clothing imports

The post-quota environment
Exports
Imports

Outlook

List of tables

Table 1: Turkey: cotton production and consumption, 1984-2004
Table 2: Capacity and shipments of short staple ring spindles and open-end rotors, selected countries, 1995-2004
Table 3: Turkey: synthetic yarn and fibre capacity and production, 2001-04
Table 4: Turkey: production, imports, exports and consumption of synthetic yarns and fibre, 2004
Table 5: Turkey: imports of wool by value, 1994-2005
Table 6: Turkey: imports of knitting machinery, 1990-2001
Table 7: Turkey: exports and imports of knitted textiles and apparel, 2001-03
Table 8: Turkey: unit export prices of principal knitted and woven products, January-May, 2002 and 2004
Table 9: Weaving capacity and shipments, selected countries, 1995-2004
Table 10: Turkey: number of shuttleless looms and capacity installed by 46 leading weaving companies, by age and by type, 1979-2003
Table 11: Turkey: textile machinery imports by type, 1994-2004
Table 12: Turkey: textile exports by destination, 2002-04
Table 13: Turkey: Textile imports by leading country of origin, 2002-04
Table 14: Turkey: clothing exports by destination, 2002-04
Table 15: Turkey: clothing imports by supplier, 2002-04
Table 16: Turkey: safeguard quotas against China implemented in January 2005
Table 17: Turkey: exports of apparel and cotton yarns and fabrics, January-July, 2004 and 2005
Table 18: EU: imports from top ten textile and clothing supplying countries, January-May, 2004 and 2005
Table 19: Turkey: clothing exports to selected countries, January-August, 2004 and 2005
Table 20: Turkey: textile exports to selected countries, January-August, 2004 and 2005
Table 21: Turkey: clothing imports from the top ten suppliers, January-June, 2004 and 2005