"Turkiye earthquake to impact domestic textile & apparel industry", 10 February 2023

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The earthquake has a shattering impact on Turkiye’s economy and the livelihood of people. Turkiye’s textile and apparel sector will also face the impact of this calamity as it is among the largest revenue-generating sectors of the Turkish economy, accounting for an average of 7 per cent of GDP over the years and had a 16 per cent share in total export volume in 2021. Besides, Turkiye is one of the world’s major textile and apparel production and sourcing destinations, and the second largest source of textile and apparel exports to European Union countries...The Turkish clothing industry, with a share of 3.7 per cent, is the sixth largest supplier in the world.

It is expected that the earthquake will affect Turkiye’s textile and apparel exports in the coming months as manufacturing has been severely affected in some areas. It has also affected the supply chain as the port of Iskenderun in southern Turkiye has been subject to severe structural damage and operations have been temporarily stopped after the earthquakes. Roads have also been heavily affected, disrupting the movement of any trucks in and around the area. Furthermore, the earthquake will undoubtedly have some impact on Turkiye’s domestic consumption of textiles and apparel...

Since the earthquake has shaken production and logistics in Turkiye in many ways, manufacturers may look towards other countries for imports...

This is not the first time that Turkiye has been hit by earthquakes. After the 1999 earthquake, for example, Turkiye’s textile and apparel exports fell for the first time in almost thirty years. The after-effects of February 2023 earthquake on the Turkish textile and apparel industry are still mostly unknown.

Turkiye has been already facing an economic decline driven by a combination of high global energy prices, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and, largely, by government economic policies that have reduced interest rates despite skyrocketing inflation, pushing the Turkish lira to a record low against the dollar...