Furnishing Fabric Fashion January - February 2023

Target market selection
for export
Murat Zümbülyuva
T
Turkiye ranks 4th after China, India and Pakistan in
home textile production and exports to hundreds of
countries. Considering that the world home textile
trade is $75 billion, we can say that Turkish home textile
exports of $3 billion are not yet at the desired level. Yes,
we, Turkish home textile manufacturers, participate in
fairs all over the world, organize business trips, and host
purchasing committees through unions. But the numbers
tell us that we also need to change our perspective
on markets.
Numbers speak louder than words
I would like to detail this idea with the examples of two
countries. The first country, Germany, has been our biggest
export market for many years. Our exports to this
market are approximately 504 million dollars with 2021
figures. The share we get from Germany’s total home
textile imports is 11.8%. Because Germany’s imports are
about $4.3 billion. We can say that our share is not bad,
but we still have a long way to go for a market where we
are so intertwined and where we can count the buyers
by heart. Let’s come to the USA, our second example
country: Turkish Home Textile manufacturers exported
a total of 421 million dollars of products to the USA as
of 2021, and this figure is also in the 2nd place in the
list of countries to which we export home textiles. But
now I come to the most important point of the work,
how much of this figure corresponds to the total home
textile imports of the USA? Let me tell you right away;
it is only 0.022% of it. I think it is our shortcoming that
we get such a small share from a country with a total
import volume of $18,872 billion. I know I’ve drowned
you in a lot of numbers, but we needed to talk about
numbers so that the subject could be better understood.
Let’s think about it; can’t we give more goods to
the US market in an environment where China has lost
confidence? Of course, we can. To this end, developing
projects with Tetsiad and UTIB, of which I am a member,
allocating a budget for market research, and establishing
closer relations with this country (a kind of 50 united
states) will provide us with great advantages. If we realize
that the market continues to grow as well as its size,
it is easy to get a much larger share from the US market
in the next decade.
The reason I gave the examples of 2 countries above
was for the correct market analysis and selection. Yes,
we will continue to sell goods to Europe. But we will
enter the markets by making ourselves believe that the
market is not limited with Europe, but that we can sell
goods all over the world. It would be America, it would
be Japan, it would be Canada, it would be Morocco… As
long as we analyze it well and conduct market research
with our usual effort.
We are returning to Heimtextil Fairs, which we took a
break due to the pandemic, in January 2023. Then we
will take part in many fairs including Hometex Istanbul
2023.
Happy New Year!