Automotive Exports December 2022

Türkiye says on course to achieve
$250B exports despite challenges
Trade Minister Mehmet Muş said Türkiye
remained on course to achieve its year-end
exports target, despite global uncertainties
spearheaded by deteriorating demand in
Europe. Demand in the country’s largest
market is expected to weaken even further
in the coming period, constituting a serious
risk for Türkiye’s trade. The gloomy outlook
was affirmed by data that showed demand
in Türkiye’s key export markets continued
to weaken in October.
“As of now, we think we will achieve
this (2022) goal. There is no question of
any deviation from this goal,” Muş told
the sixth edition of the Türkiye Export
Mobilization Summit.
The event was organized by Türkiye’s
leading media group and Daily Sabah’s
parent company, Turkuvaz Media, in
Istanbul. Türkiye’s exports remained
buoyant and rose 15.4% from January
through October this year to $209.5 billion,
according to official data, marking an
all-time 10-month high. Türkiye has set a
$250 billion export target for this year, after
reaching a record $225 billion in 2021.
Regarding 2023, Muş said they would
“reflect all our energy on the field” to
ensure exports stay on the upward path.
Muş said there has been a slowdown
in the growth trend of exports, citing
weakening demand in the European
Union, where almost half of the Türkiye’s
shipments go.
“A slowdown there (in Europe), whether
we want it or not, a drop in demand there
affects our exports,” he said.
Shipments to the EU jumped 13.5% in the
first ten months, with Türkiye enjoying a
$9.7 billion surplus in trade with the bloc.
Muş stressed Türkiye’s efforts to diversify
markets and cited the government’s
strategy to boost sales to remote
countries.
“The share we have in the world exports is
1%, but the share we hold in the countries
we identify as distant countries is 0.25%.
Therefore, we have a goal to raise it to the
same level,” he added.
“We want to increase our share here to
the average level of 1%, which is the share
we receive from the world. This means
an increase in exports to us with today’s
figures of an additional $80 billion.”
This is a difficult process, Muş said, citing
challenges regarding logistics, planning
and distribution channels. But he noted
the expanded trips, fairs and organizations
in the targeted markets.
Muş expressed that the image of Türkiye
and Turkish products in remote countries
is “very positive,” stressing that they
would focus very intensively on them in
the coming period and that these studies
may take up to four months.
He stated that the EU would retain its
weight in this period but said markets of
similar importance may emerge in the
period ahead.
Muş said the uncertainty was the main
factor triggering the slowdown in demand
for exports, warning that 2023 would be
an even more challenging year for the
world.
“Costs are financed in some way, the
size of financial costs or the size of
investment costs are somehow endured,
but the negativity of expectations about
the future, the expectation of what will
happen, stops everything,” the minister
said.
“In other words, another development
can happen in a country when you never
expect it. Therefore, this expectation
inevitably reduces investment decisions
and demand incredibly.”
Muş cited downward revisions by
international organizations for the global
economy, including the EU.
“They are revising downward their growth
expectations for trade for 2023. Therefore,
the year 2023 will be more difficult for the
world than 2022,” he said.
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