Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) President Mustafa Gültepe evaluated the year 2022 and explained the road map of exporters for 2023. TİM President made his 2022 assessment as follows:

12.9% increase despite all the negativities
"Turkey faced a heavy order in 2021 due to the impact of the breakdown of the supply chain and high freight costs during the pandemic process. This increase in orders reflected positively on our exports and we closed 2021 with a record export of $225 billion. We started 2022 with this acceleration in exports and set a goal of $250 billion by the end of the year. Our exporters showed a very successful performance, especially in the first half of the year. Despite the negative impact of parity, we managed to increase our exports at double-digit rates. However, with the second half of the year, orders in some sectors started to decrease due to the energy crisis and recession expectations in Europe. Due to the difficulties experienced in keeping prices in sectors such as ready-to-wear and textiles, some of the orders received during the pandemic period shifted to countries such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Despite all the negativities, we increased our exports by 12.9 percent in 2022 to over 254 billion dollars. If the pair had been on 2021 averages and there were no order losses in the second half, we could have reached $270 billion this year.

The biggest contribution was given by the exporter family
In 2022, our export family made the biggest contribution to the growth of Turkey's economy. Net exports contributed to the growth of 3.0 points in the first quarter and 2.7 points in the second quarter and 0.7 points in the third quarter. Almost half of the 7.6 percent growth in the first half of the year came from exports."

As it is known, the global economy and trade are in a great process of change and transformation. Sustainability and digitalization are the main dynamics of transformation. As TİM, we prepared our sustainability action plan in June 2021 to guide the sectors. In September 2022, we updated our mission and vision in the light of developments in global markets.

Digital infrastructure will be strengthened.
In the new period, we are working with the vision of making Turkey one of the first 10 countries in exports. In line with this vision, we have determined our short, medium, and long-term goals. In the short term, we will first prepare our communication strategy and action plans. We will increase the communication of our troops with each other and ensure the dissemination of best practices.

We will conduct a needs analysis in line with the objectives.
In the medium term, we will strengthen the digital and technological infrastructures of our TİM and exporter associations. By clarifying the target countries, we will communicate more effectively with the trade attachés and increase our lobbying activities. We will follow the compliance with UN Sustainable Development Goals. We will establish TİM Digital Academy. We will increase Turkey's average export kilometer and the number of products.

We will strengthen cooperation with international counterparts. We will create the infrastructure where our associations can carry out new product/idea/brand studies and guide the studies on green transformation. We will review the structures of export liaison offices throughout the country. We will ensure the establishment of a foreign logistics support system. In order to increase the weight of high-value-added products and sectors, we will try to clarify the road map and support it with legislation.

New opportunities will be considered
In the long term, we will contribute to the evaluation of new opportunities in the global supply chain, the establishment of the Turkey Marketplace Platform, the development of the financial architecture and logistics system with the necessary infrastructure for the vision of the top 10 exporting countries, and the determination of the Turkey 2053 Export Strategy. "

We will increase our market diversity and focus on distant countries
TİM President Mustafa Gültepe explained the goals of 2023 as follows: “We need to increase our exports by at least 10 percent every year in order to reach our goals. We start 2023 with this goal. However, due to the uncertainties in global trade, especially in Europe, our main market, it is not easy to draw a clear picture, especially for the first quarter of 2023. Therefore, the size of the slowdown in global markets will be decisive in the performance we will show this year. We are trying to increase our market diversity in order to reduce the effect of periodic developments on our exports. We are effectively implementing the ‘Far Countries Strategy‘ of our Ministry of Commerce.

The strategy of the distant countries
Immediately after the announcement of the ‘Far Countries Strategy', last year we organized trade missions to South Korea, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines covering all our sectors. We will continue to bring our exporters together with trade delegations and distant markets this year. 2023 will be a global attack year for our exporters in a sense. In the first quarter of the year, we planned 17 trade delegations for 19 distant countries. In January, we carried out trade missions to Venezuela and Pakistan. With our trade delegations where the foundations of new cooperation will be laid, we will carry our export range, which is still 3 thousand 65 kilometers, above the world average of 4 thousand 744 kilometers. We will also accelerate promotional efforts to strengthen Turkey's production power and Made in Turkey perception in distant geographies outside our traditional markets. Turkish series are of great interest in South American countries. We also plan to benefit from the influence of the series in promotional activities in this geography.

We have exports of around 30 billion dollars in 2022 to the 18 countries included in the Distant Countries Strategy. In order to quadruple the current volume, we will use all opportunities in cooperation with our trade ministry, especially our troops, and exporters. "