gs06 PDF

Harvard Center for Textile & Apparel Research
Overview of the Turkish Textile and Apparel Industry
by
BARIS TAN
Last revision: December 2001
Graduate School of Business, Koç University

Rumeli Feneri Yolu, Sariyer, 80910 Istanbul, Turkey
e-mail: btan@ku.edu.tr.
Harvard Center for Textile and Apparel Research

Harvard University
29 Oxford Street, Pierce Hall 309
Cambridge, MA 02138
Telephone: (617) 495-1508
Fax: (617) 495-9837
E-mail: muriel@deas.harvard.edu
Funding for this project was provided by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
B.Tan Overview of the Turkish Textile and Apparel Industry 2
Table of Contents
Table of Contents ................................................................................................................. 2

List of Tables........................................................................................................................ 3
List of Figures....................................................................................................................... 5
1. Introduction...................................................................................................................... 6
2. Imports and Exports....................................................................................................... 11

2.1. Destinations for Turkish Textile and Apparel Exports ............................................. 15
2.2. Product Mix of Turkish Textile and Apparel Exports .............................................. 18

2.3. The Textile and Apparel Trade with USA................................................................ 19
3. Production Capacity and Utilization .............................................................................. 23

4. Production and Demand................................................................................................. 25
5.1. Cotton Textiles...................................................................................................... 26

5.2. Woolen Textiles..................................................................................................... 28
5.3. Man-made Textiles ................................................................................................ 29

5.4. Apparel Production ............................................................................................... 32
5. Industry Structure .......................................................................................................... 33

6. Competitiveness of the Textile and Apparel Industry .................................................... 38
7.1. Cost Structure .......................................................................................................... 38

7.2. Productivity.............................................................................................................. 42
7.3. Lead Times and Delivery Performance ..................................................................... 44

7.4. Flexibility and Quality ............................................................................................. 47
7. Assessment of Competitiveness of Turkish Textile and Apparel Industry ...................... 49

References........................................................................................................................... 52
List of Tables
Table 1. Macroeconomic Indicators of Turkey 7
Table 2. Relative price changes in textile and apparel. 10
Table 3. World’s Largest Textile Exporters (1998) 12
Table 4. World’s Largest Apparel Exporters (1998) 12
Table 5. European Union’s Top Five Textile and Apparel Suppliers 13
Table 6. Turkey’s Apparel and Textile Exports 13
Table 7. Turkey’s Apparel and Textile Imports 14
Table 8. Regional Export Destinations for Turkey’s Textile Exports 15
Table 9. Regional Export Destinations for Turkey’s Apparel Exports 15
Table 10. Largest Markets for Turkey’s Textile Exports 16
Table 11. Largest Markets for Turkey’s Apparel Exports 17
Table 12. Turkey’s Largest Textile Suppliers 17
Table 13. Turkey’s Largest Apparel Suppliers 18
Table 14. Product Mix of Turkish Textile and Apparel Exports (1999) 18
Table 15. Product Mix of Turkish Textile and Apparel Imports (1999) 19
Table 16. Textile and Apparel Trade with USA 19
Table 17. Product Mix of Turkish Apparel Exports to USA (1999, Jan-Nov) 21
Table 18. Turkish Textile Exports to USA in Quota-Restricted Categories (1999) 22
Table 19. Turkish Apparel Exports to USA in Quota-Restricted Categories 22

Table 20. Textile Machinery Capacity (1996) 23
Table 21. Textile Machinery Imports (Million $) 23
Table 22. Capacity Utilization Ratios (%) in Textile and Apparel Industry 24
Table 23. Summary of Production and Demand in Turkish Textile and Apparel Sector 25
Table 24. Cotton Production and Demand in the World 26
Table 25. Cotton Production, Consumption, Import and Export in Turkey 27
Table 26. Cotton Yarn Production, Demand, Import and Export 27

Table 27. Cotton Woven Fabric Production, Demand, Import and Export 27
Table 28. Wool Production, Consumption, Import and Export in Turkey 28

Table 29. Woolen Yarn Production, Demand, Import and Export 29
Table 30. Woolen Fabric Production, Demand, Import and Export 29

Table 31. Man-Made Fiber Production and Demand 30
Table 32. Man-Made Fiber Export and Import 30

Table 33. Man-Made Yarn Production and Demand 31
Table 34. Man-Made Yarn Export and Import 31

Table 35. Man-Made Fabric Production, Demand, Import and Export 31
Table 36. Product Mix of Turkish Apparel Exports 32

Table 37. Size Distribution of the Establishments in the Apparel Industry (as % ) 34
Table 38. Size Distribution of the Establishments in the Textile Industry (as % ) 34
Table 39. Distribution of the Number of Employees in the Apparel Industry (as % ) 35
Table 40. Distribution of the Number of Employees in the Textile Industry (as % ) 35
Table 41. Index of Production Workers in Manufacturing Industry (1997=100) 35
Table 42. Index of Production Workers Hourly Wages in Manufacturing Industry

(1997=100) 36
Table 43. Production Index of Manufacturing Industry 36

(Weighted by Value Added 1997=100) 36
Table 44. Number of Foreign-Owned Firms in Textile and Apparel Industry 37

Table 45. Number of Foreign Investment Licenses 37
Table 46. Government Investment Incentives to the Textile/Apparel Industry 37

Table 47. Comparison of the Labor costs ($/hour) in the Textile Industry 38
Table 48. Comparison of Industrial Electricity Prices ($/kwh) 39

Table 49. Cost Structure in Different Countries 40
Table 50. Comparison of Production Costs (Index: Italy=100) 41
Table 51. Value Added, Labor Productivity and Wage Rates (at current prices, in US$) by
Manufacturing Branch 43
Table 52. Annual Growth Rates During 1980-1996 44

Table 53. Comparative Lead Times in the European Market 45
List of Figures
Figure 1. Turkish Textile and Apparel Exports 1970-1999 ................................................... 8
Figure 2. Map of Turkey..................................................................................................... 33

Figure 3. Geographical location of Turkey.......................................................................... 44
Figure 4. Comparative Delivery Times to the European Union.......................................... 45

Figure 5. Number of Textile & Apparel Firms Obtaining ISO Standards........................... 48
Figure 6. Allocation of the money paid by a customer in the supply chain of an apparel
product......................................................................................................................... 50
1. Introduction
In Turkey, the textile and apparel industry has been a very important driving force
for the economy. Today, the textile and apparel industry has a major importance in
Turkish economy. As an industry that generates around $20 billion a year, it accounts for
10.4% of the GNP, 39% of industrial output, 47.5% of manufacturing output, 21% of the
total industrial employment, 10% of the total employment, and 37.4% of all the exports
[11]. Table 1 summarizes some macroeconomic indicators for Turkey [14].
The textile and apparel industry in Turkey dates back to the Ottoman Empire era.
Production and processing of cotton and yarn was an important part of the manufacturing
activities of the empire. When the empire collapsed, the new Turkish Republic that was
founded in 1923 inherited 8 factories and 10,000 looms [1]. The new republic designated
the textile and apparel sector as one of the protected sectors and invested heavily in the
sector by opening new factories and forming State Economic Enterprises. Under the
protection of the state, the industry flourished rapidly and started exporting textile
products in 1960s. The share of textile and apparel exports as a percent of total exports
was only 2.96% in 1970.

The liberalization of the economy in 1980s and export-oriented government strategies
and incentives accelerated the exports of the textile and apparel to the global markets.
Turkey became a major exporter of yarn and unprocessed fabric to Europe in 1980s.
Although Europe imposed quotas limiting Turkish textile exports to European countries in
these years, Turkey continued to be the major supplier of cotton yarn until late 1980s. As a
result of the emergence of Asian competitors and also an antidumping tax of 12% that was
charged on Turkish yarn by the European Union, Turkey lost its leadership position. The
industry then moved towards more value-added products such as finished cotton, synthetic
fiber fabrics, and ready ware.

Table 1. Macroeconomic Indicators of Turkey
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

1999
GDP at market prices 7,926 14,320 28,721 53,523 83,198

(TL bn)
GDP 173 176 189 205 199
(US$ bn)
Real GDP growth 6.7 7.3 7.6 3.2 -4.68
(%)
Consumer price inflation 89.1 80.4 85.7 84.6 65.1
(av; %)
Population (m) 60.6 61.5 62.5 63.5 64.4
Exports of goods fob 21,975 32,446 32,647 31,220 29,326
(US$ m)
Imports of goods fob 35,187 43,028 48,005 45,440 39,773
(US$ m)
Current-account balance -2,338 -2,437 -2,638 -1,983 -1,364
(US$ m)
Foreign-exchange reserves 12,442 16,436 18,658 19,489 23,340
excl gold (US$ m)
Total external debt 73.8 79.6 84.9 96.9 101.8
(US$ bn)
Debt-service ratio, paid 27.7 21.9 19.5 21.2 30.5
(%)
Public-sector borrowing 6.7 13.9 13.1 15.9 23.3
requirement (% of GNP)
Consolidated government -4.0 -8.6 -7.8 -7.1 -10.9
budget balance (% of GD)-
Exchange rate 45,845 81,405 151,865 260,724 418,783
(av; TL:US$)
Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited, EIU Country Report: Turkey (May 2001)
Enjoying the availability of raw materials, especially, cotton, relatively low labor
costs, proximity to Europe, and then the customs union agreement with the European
Union, the textile and apparel industry increased its exports almost thirteen-fold in twenty
years: from $777 million in 1980 to $9.9 billion in 1999 [16]. The textile and apparel
industry is the leading export-generating sector, generating $9.8 billion, which is 36.1% of
the total exports in 1999 [16]. Figure 1 depicts the growth of Turkish textile and apparel
exports since 1970.
12.000.000
Textile
Apparel
10.000.000
Export values (1000 $) Textile and Apparel
8.000.000
6.000.000
4.000.000
2.000.000
-
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
Year
Figure 1. Turkish Textile and Apparel Exports 1970-1999
This increase is mainly a result of high growth in the apparel industry. The apparel
exports had a record annual increase of 24% in 1988. The share of the apparel industry in
the total textile and apparel exports increased from 36% in 1984 to 74% in 1999.
Turkey is the largest textile supplier and the second largest apparel supplier of the
European Union [17]. In the world market, Turkey ranks as the seventh largest apparel and
the fifteenth largest textile exporter (1999). Although the share of Turkey in the world’s
export markets is 0.4%, the share of the Turkish textile and apparel sector is 4.1%.
The industry is composed of 44,000 mostly small- to medium-size establishments. In
1997, there were 105 large textile and apparel companies among the Turkey’s largest 500
industrial firms. After the privatization of the most of the state owned enterprises, the
private sector is currently dominating the industry.

Despite its accomplishments over the last years, the Turkish textile and apparel
industry is currently facing a number of crucial challenges. The competitiveness of the

industry is decreasing due to rising labor costs, inefficiencies and quality problems, and the
emergence of other low-cost suppliers in the Far East and Eastern Europe. The changes in
world trade, heavy reliance on the European market (56% of Turkey’s textile exports and
66% of its apparel exports in 1999), and recent Asian and Russian crises also create
uncertainty for the industry’s future.
With the Customs Union agreement with the European Union that has been in effect
since 1996, the industry was filled with great enthusiasm and exaggerated expectations. In
this environment, the companies reacted to these challenges by substantial investment in
production capacity without considering its impact and sources of financing. During 1990-
1995, the textile industry invested around $6 billion to purchase textile machinery. This
made Turkey one of the largest customers of the textile machinery. However, this sudden
increase in investments without coordination created an overcapacity in the sector. In

addition to this overcapacity, stagnant European markets, depreciation of the Euro against
the dollar, and rising production costs reduced the capacity utilization ratio for the textile
industry from 81% in 1995 to 77% in 1998, and for the apparel industry from 90% in 1995 to
80% in 1998 [17].

This report presents an overview of the Turkish textile and apparel sector. In order to
emphasize the position of the Turkish textile and apparel industry globally, Section 2 gives
a summary of the industry’s imports and exports, major suppliers and customers, and the
composition of the imports and exports in recent years. The Turkey-USA textile and
apparel trade is analyzed separately in Section 3. The production capacity and the
utilization of it in the textile and apparel industry are discussed in Section 4. Then the
production numbers for fiber, yarn, and fabric output from cotton, woolen, and man-made
sources and clothing are given together with the corresponding demand, import, and export
figures in Section 5. The industry structure is discussed in Section 6. Section 7 analyzes

the competitiveness of the industry by focusing on its cost structure, delivery performance,
flexibility and quality. Finally, a brief assessment of the competitiveness and conclusions
are given in Section 8.
Note that, in the report, the numbers for apparel and textiles combined are the sum of
the corresponding numbers for textile and apparel given separately. This summation is
done without any adjustment according to the relative price changes of the two categories.
The wholesale prices indices from 1980 to 1998, given in Table 2, show that the wholesale
apparel prices have increased more than the wholesale textile prices.
Table 2. Relative price changes in textile and apparel.
Wholesale Price Index (1980=1)
32 321 322 p321/p322

Textile and
Apparel Textile Apparel
1982 1.3 1.3 1.4 0.931288
1983 1.8 1.8 1.9 0.903674
1984 2.5 2.5 2.6 0.962363
1985 3.4 3.3 3.2 1.035824
1986 4.7 4.5 4.4 1.019223
1987 6.9 6.8 6.7 1.010993
1988 11.8 11.6 12.3 0.946467
1989 19.6 19.5 21.4 0.910012
1990 29.5 29.2 32.9 0.885462
1991 43.9 43.1 50.2 0.857617
1992 70.1 68.5 81.9 0.836574
1993 107.9 101.5 138.8 0.731527
1994 249.4 246.6 285.0 0.865102
1995 471.2 442.0 593.8 0.744319
1996 748.6 676.4 999.2 0.676984
1997 1378.0 1249.5 1856.9 0.672871
1998 2287.1 2073.9 3082.1 0.672871
2. Imports and Exports
Turkey is the world’s seventeenth largest apparel exporter, and the fifteenth largest
textile exporter in the world (Table 3 and 4). Turkey is also the largest textile and the
second largest apparel supplier to the European Union (Table 5). (According to the
Turkish Clothing Manufacturers Association (TGSD) export figures, Turkey was the fifth
largest apparel exporter in the world and the largest textile supplier of the European
Union.)
Although the share of Turkey in the world’s export markets is 0.4%, the share of the
Turkish textile and apparel sector is 4.1%. The textile and apparel industry in Turkey
depends heavily on exports. Turkey’s exports account for, approximately, 58% of the
woven textiles output, 70% of the apparel output, and 63% of the textile and apparel
output (Dunya, 1998).

In addition to these export figures, a substantial amount of textile and apparel has
been bought by small traders who travel back and forth from Russia, Ukraine, other former
Soviet republics, and Eastern Europe. This so-called “suitcase trade” is estimated to
account for $8.8 billion in 1996. After the Russian crisis, this number is estimated to have
dropped to $3.6 billion in 1998, and $1.7 billion in 1999 according to the Turkish Treasury’s
numbers.
Turkey’s textile exports have increased by 97% from 1990 to 1998. During this time,
the apparel exports increased by almost 150%. The percentage of textile and apparel
exports in total exports has been over 36% for the last five years (Table 6). Although the
growth of the textile and apparel exports has been quite steep in the last twenty years, in
1999, Turkey faced a drop in the total export value for the first time after almost thirty
years. This was caused by the earthquake, economic problems, problems in the world
markets, and currency fluctuations. Since 66% of apparel exports are sent to European
Union, the depreciation of EURO against USD affects the Turkish export performance.
While 1 EURO was equivalent to $1.16 in January 1999, its value went down to $1.01, or
13%, in December 1999. Therefore, a part of the decrease in apparel exports in 1999 can be
attributed to the depreciation of EURO against USD.
Table 3. World’s Largest Textile Exporters (1999)

Share in World % of economy s
Country Value Exports total merchandise
($ million) (%) exports
1 China 13043 8.82% 6,7
2 Hong Kong 12271 8.30% 7,0
3 Germany 11885 8.03% 2,2
4 Italy 11783 7.97% 5,1
5 Korea 11618 7.85% 8,0
6 Taiwan 10986 7.43% 9,0
7 USA 9510 6.43% 1,4
8 France 7030 4.75% 2,3
9 Japan 6591 4.46% 1,6
10 Belgium 6585 4.45% 3,7
11 India 4558 (as of 1998) 3.08% 13.6
12 Pakistan 4512 3.05% 50,8
13 UK 4484 3.03% 1,7
14 Netherlands 3860 2.61% 1,9
15 Turkey 3478 2.35% 13,4
Source: World Trade Organization
Table 4. World’s Largest Apparel Exporters (1999)
Value Share in World % of economy’s

Country ($ million) Exports total merchandise
(%) exports
1 China 30078 16.17% 15.4
2 Hong Kong 22371 12.03% 12.8
3 Italy 13240 7.12% 5.7
4 USA 8269 4.44% 1.2
5 Mexico 7805 4.20% 5.7
6 Germany 7441 4.00% 1.4
7 Turkey 6516 3.50% 25.0
8 France 5690 3.06% 1.9
9 Korea 4871 2.62% 3.4
10 India 4780 2.6% 14.2
11 UK 4487 2.41% 1.7
12 Indonesia 3857 2.07% 7.9
13 Belgium 3833 2.06% 2.2
14 Thailand 3449 1.85% 5.9
15 Portugal 3151 1.69% 13.2
Source: World Trade Organization
Table 5. European Union’s Top Five Textile and Apparel Suppliers

Textile
1997 1998 1999
(1000 Euros) (1000 Euros) (1000 Euros)
Turkey 1437.7 1657.1 1770.4
India 1674.2 1657.3 1637.1
China P.R. 1253.3 1365.9 1413.5
U.S.A. 1379.7 1484.8 1317.5
Switzerland 1154.2 1203.3 1136.5
Apparel
1997 1998 1999
(1000 Euros) (1000 Euros) (1000 Euros)
China P.R. 5369.7 5559.3 6556.2
Turkey 3940.2 4368.7 4567.8
Hong Kong 2591.3 2598.1 2767.1
Tunisia 2013.7 2284.3 2377.1
Morocco 1874.7 2037.4 2114.4
Source: EURATEX [15]
Table 6. Turkey’s Apparel and Textile Exports
Apparel Textile Textile and Apparel

Total % in total % in total % in total
Exports Value Turkish Value Turkish Value Turkish
(1000 $) (1000$) exports (1000$) exports (1000$) exports
1980 2,910,000 106,000 3.6 671,000 23.1 777,000 26.7
1981 4,703,000 302,000 6.4 915,000 19.5 1,217,000 25.9
1982 5,746,000 367,000 6.4 1,069,000 18.6 1,436,000 25
1983 5,728,000 544,000 9.5 1,055,000 18.4 1,599,000 27.9
1984 7,134,000 989,000 13.9 1,181,000 16.6 2,170,000 30.4
1985 7,958,000 936,000 11.8 1,151,000 14.5 2,087,000 26.2
1986 7,457,000 1,069,000 14.3 1,043,000 14.0 2,112,000 28.3
1987 10,190,000 1,728,000 17.0 1,133,000 11.1 2,861,000 28.1
1988 11,662,000 2,127,000 18.2 1,334,000 11.4 3,461,000 29.7
1989 11,625,000 2,448,000 21.1 1,338,000 11.5 3,786,000 32.6
1990 12,959,289 2,898,349 22.4 1,424,249 11.0 4,322,598 33.4
1991 13,593,539 3,219,350 23.7 1,374,357 10.1 4,593,707 33.8
1992 14,365,414 4,009,615 27.9 1,369,322 9.5 5,378,937 37.4
1993 15,345,000 4,157,997 27.1 1,457,490 9.5 5,615,487 36.6
1994 18,107,000 4,490,043 24.8 1,944,818 10.7 6,434,861 35.5
1995 21,637,041 6,188,502 28.6 2,130,665 9.8 8,319,167 38.4
1996 23,224,465 6,344,252 27.3 2,352,142 10.1 8,696,394 37.4
1997 26,261,072 7,088,669 27 2,730,421 10.4 9,819,090 37.4
1998 26,973,952 7,644,051 28.3 2,811,763 10.4 10,455,814 38.8
1999 26,587,225 7,145,053 26.9 2,733,641 10.3 9,878,694 37.2
2000 27,774,906 7,194,609 25.9 2,818,768 10.1 10,013,377 36.1
Source: The Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade, The Republic of Turkey, Prime Ministry Reports (2000)
Table 7. Turkey’s Apparel and Textile Imports
Apparel Textile Apparel and Textile

% in Total % in Total % in Total
Year Value (1000$) Imports Value (1000$) Imports Value (1000$) Imports
1990 17,984 0.08 1,049,012 4.70 1,066,996 4.78
1991 26,516 0.13 872,912 4.15 899,428 4.28
1992 35,067 0.15 1,189,310 5.20 1,224,377 5.35
1993 47,473 0.16 1,591,948 5.41 1,639,421 5.57
1994 36,586 0.16 1,600,698 6.88 1,637,284 7.04
1995 59,279 0.17 2,621,797 7.34 2,681,076 7.51
1996 169,658 0.39 2,812,672 6.45 2,982,330 6.84
1997 230,597 0.47 3,380,520 6.96 3,611,117 7.43
1998 230,892 0.50 3,305,229 7.20 3,536,121 7.70
1999 199,636 0.5 2,573,359 6,3 2,772995 6.8
2000 256,327 0.5 3,197,751 5,9 3,454,078 6.3
Source: The Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade Reports (2000)
The Customs Union agreement with the European Union that was signed in 1996
made it easy to export and import intermediary goods between the European Union and
Turkey and reduced Turkey’s average tariff rates to 3.6%. The Customs Union agreement
is a part of the process for Turkey’s membership in the European Union where Turkey is an
official candidate. The EU’s quantity restrictions on Turkish textile and clothing were
eliminated after the Customs Union. The Customs Union Agreement also includes the
Law on the Protection of Competition within the Frameworks of the Integration with the
World Markets and Customs Union with the EU; The Law on the Protection of the
Consumer; The Protection of Industrial Designs, The Protection of Brand Names, etc. The
agreement is expected to increase the competitiveness of all the industries faced with global
competition. The Turkish apparel and textile industry has been expecting an increase in
exports from the agreement. But so far only a 5% increase in the exports has been realized.
Turkey’s textile and apparel exports have been constrained by the Multi Fiber
Agreement (MFA). Elimination of all the quotas according to General Agreement on

Tariffs and Trade (GATT) between the countries of WTO, by January 1, 2005 introduces
new opportunities and also challenges for Turkey’s textile and apparel industry, especially,
in the United States market.
2.1. Destinations for Turkish Textile and Apparel Exports
It is estimated that Turkish apparel industry supplies 20,000 points of sale
destinations in Turkey and 200,000 destinations worldwide [11]. European Union is the
main destination for Turkish textile and apparel exports followed by the United States.
Other major textile export destinations are East Europe, Middle East, and North Africa
following the European Union and the United States. Russia is also a major destination for
Turkey’s apparel exports following the European Union and the United States (Tables 8, 9).
In 1999, the European Union accounted for 56% of Turkey’s textile exports and 66% of
its apparel exports. Turkey is the second largest textile supplier of the European Union
according to EURATEX [15]. Turkey is also the second largest apparel supplier of the
European Union, with total exports of 4.39 Billion Euros and a share of 11%, following
China (Table 5).
Table 8. Regional Export Destinations for Turkey’s Textile Exports

Value (Million $) Share
1998 1999 1998 1999
EU 1296 1316 52% 56%
USA 195 222 6% 8%
East Europe 157 169 6% 7%
Middle East 281 262 11% 10%
North Africa 90 163 3% 6%
Other 556 331 21% 13%
Table 9. Regional Export Destinations for Turkey’s Apparel Exports

Value (Million $) Share
1998 1999 1998 1999
EU 5,174 5,063 63% 66%
USA 807 928 10% 13%
Russia 374 130 5% 2%
East Europe 418 227 5% 3%
Others 1,342 1,236 16% 16%
Although the apparel exports haven been concentrated mainly in the European Union
and USA with a combined share of 78% of Turkish apparel exports, textile exports are more
distributed across the European Union, USA, East Europe and Middle East with a share of
81%.
The textile exports to North Africa increased almost 80% in 1998, possibly, because of
increasing apparel exports from North Africa to Europe with Turkish textiles.
Italy is the largest market for Turkish textiles with a market share of 12% in 2000.
Germany is the largest market for Turkish apparel and the fourth largest market for textiles
(Table 10 and 11) with 8% share of textiles and 37% of apparels in 2000.
The United States is the second largest market for the Turkish apparel following
Germany (Table 11). Turkey is the twentieth largest apparel (1997) and the twelfth largest
textile supplier of the United States (1999). The exports to the United States have been
increasing in recent years.
The major textile suppliers of Turkey are Germany, Italy, and USA each having a
share of 10% in Turkey’s textile imports followed by S. Korea (Table 12). Most of
Turkey’s apparel imports are from Italy with a share of 22% of Total apparel imports
followed by England, China, and Spain (Table 13).
Table 10. Largest Markets for Turkey’s Textile Exports

Value % in Turkey’s Textile Exports
1998 1999 2000 1998 1999 2000
Italy $320,641,158 $340,327,710 $341,325,883 11% 12% 12%
USA $194,617,114 $221,781,655 $231,263,093 7% 8% 8%
England $253,182,304 $233,633,323 $229,367,490 9% 9% 8%
Germany $214,743,923 $228,918,321 $228,634,966 8% 8% 8%
France $164,689,800 $144,685,900 $130,385,483 6% 5% 5%
Spain $54,486,369 $75,600,261 $81,164,054 2% 3% 3%
Israel $67,587,312 $79,475,948 $73,836,847 2% 3% 3%
Saudi Arabia $66,764,419 $62,397,977 $73,636,530 2% 2% 3%
Greece $58,339,246 $74,321,838 $67,881,218 2% 3% 2%
Belgium-Lux. $77,440,407 $76,537,066 $64,515,919 3% 3% 2%
Algeria $54,875,943 $80,290,678 $42,491,000 2% 3% 1,5%
Syria $100,163,440 $60,417,810 N/A 4% 2% N/A
Source: The Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade Reports (2000) [8]
Table 11. Largest Markets for Turkey’s Apparel Exports

Value ($) % in Turkey’s Apparel Exports
1998 1999 2000 1998 1999 2000
Germany 2,894,327,936 2,704,059,649 2,633,959,612 38% 38% 37%
USA 807,135,558 928,417,400 1,193,337,121 11% 13% 17%
England 571,623,542 667,548,099 859,470,533 7% 9% 12%
France 493,734,172 494,573,050 491,719,949 6% 7% 7%
Holland 406,292,847 385,299,540 380,112,498 5% 5% 5%
Belgium-Lux 231,584,339 211,481,709 207,516,399 3% 3% 3%
Italy 170,970,423 161,484,648 165,837,990 2% 2% 2%
Denmark 100,820,151 107,526,827 109,567,168 1% 2% 2%
Russia 373,544,063 129,758,000 103,108,879 5% 2% 1%
Austria 107,644,817 96,839,419 86,048,876 1% 1% 1%
Sweden 90,782,482 94,082,318 69,647,614 1% 1% 1%
Tunisia 203,457,751 106,639,747 N/A 3% 1% N/A
Libya 73,969,580 102,983,682 N/A 1% 1% N/A
Poland 180,974,211 94,665,380 N/A 2% 1% N/A
Egypt 80,632,540 87,781,220 N/A 1% 1% N/A
Table 12. Turkey’s Largest Textile Suppliers

Value ($) % in Turkey’s Textile Imports
1998 1999 2000 1998 1999 2000
Italy 324,942,763 298,235,258 331,630,796 10% 12% 10%
Germany 376,043,694 348,234,898 319,545,454 11% 14% 10%
USA 335,763,227 140,568,477 316,749,028 10% 5% 10%
S. Korea 257,223,252 169,857,938 193,667,278 8% 7% 6%
China 151,404,371 139,718,596 190,918,894 5% 5% 6%
Greece 92,411,740 126,784,760 157,850,607 3% 5% 5%
India 101,988,166 81,280,358 152,830,675 3% 3% 5%
France 117,663,813 102,466,346 105,636,123 4% 4% 3%
England 109,183,110 97,031,313 97,580,694 3% 4% 3%
Holland 81,902,105 83,988,971 89,564,591 2% 3% 3%
Belgium-Lux. 66,991,023 59,951,762 N/A 2% 2% N/A

Table 13. Turkey’s Largest Apparel Suppliers

Value ($) % in Turkey’s Apparel Imports
1998 1999 2000 1998 1999 2000
Italy 68,455,570 48,467,873 57,226,132 30% 24% 22%
England 20,939,138 21,934,886 33,208,358 9% 11% 13%
China 13,440,597 22,640,126 33,006,427 6% 11% 13%
Spain 20,562,488 20,051,087 22,125,889 9% 10% 9%
Germany 28,303,022 21,440,116 20,172,736 12% 11% 8%
France 22,956,933 16,096,196 17,433,360 10% 8% 7%
Hong Kong 3,633,037 4,527,722 6,342,745 2% 2% 2%
India 4,945,439 4,236,158 5,715,495 2% 2% 2%
Holland 7,340,565 5,733,662 5,633,930 3% 3% 2%
Portugal 89,765 2,397,153 3,299,155 0% 1% 1%
USA 6,769,742 3,720,921 3,040,112 3% 2% 1%
2.2. Product Mix of Turkish Textile and Apparel Exports
Considering the shares in the total textile and apparel exports, knitted apparel has the
highest share with 38%, followed by woven apparel, 24%, and made-up textile article 9%
(Table 14).
Turkey imports mainly cotton, man-made, and wool fiber, yarn, and fabric lead by
cotton with a share of 24% in total textile and apparel imports (Table 15). As shown in
Table 36, the apparel industry produces more knitted than woven products ones and more
basic items such as unstructured tops and bottoms than tailored garments.
Table 14. Product Mix of Turkish Textile and Apparel Exports (1999)
Share in Total Textile Share in Total Exports
and Apparel Exports
Knitted Apparel and Accessories 38.34% 14.24%
Woven Apparel and Accessories 24.43% 9.08%
Made-up Textile Articles 9,56% 3.55%
Cotton (Fiber, Yarn, woven fabric) 7.87% 2.92%
Man-made staple (Fiber, yarn, woven, fabric) 6.13% 2.28%
Man-made filament (Fiber, yarn, woven, fabric) 4.09% 1.52%
Carpets and floor coverings 2.73% 1.02%
Knitted Fabrics 2.26% 0.84%
Special woven fabrics 1.89% 0.70%
Coated laminated fabrics 1.27% 0.47%

Table 15. Product Mix of Turkish Textile and Apparel Imports (1999)
Share in Total Textile Share in Total

and Apparel Imports Imports
Cotton (Fiber, Yarn, woven fabric) 24.21% 1.65%
Man-made filament (Fiber, yarn, woven, fabric) 23.07% 1.57%
Man-made staple (Fiber, yarn, woven, fabric) 19.93% 1.36%
Wool (Fiber, Yarn, woven fabric) 8.08% 0.55%
2.3. The Textile and Apparel Trade with USA
The textile and apparel trade between Turkey and the United States has been
increasing steadily for the last decade, reaching $1.425 billion of exports and $319.7 million
of imports in 2000. The growth rate of Turkish apparel exports to the United States was
higher than that of Mexico and China in 1998.
Table 16. Textile and Apparel Trade with USA
Apparel Trade Textile Trade

Export Import Export Import
Year Quantity Value Growth Quantity Value Quantity Value Growth Quantity Value
rate rate
( ton) (Million $) (ton) (Million $) (ton) (Million $) (ton) (Million $)
(Value: %) (Value: %)
1996 15,696 597.6 259.9 7.3 19,788 145.9 30,289 112.4
1997 19,729 690.5 15.5% 370.2 28.6 30,259 176.5 21.0% 120,045 281.2
1998 27,727 807.1 16.9% 117.8 6.8 34,951 194.6 10.3% 157,892 335.8
1999 34,975 928.4 15.0% 126.4 3.7 49,258 221.8 14.0% 49,543 140.6
2000 47,540 1,193.3 28.5% 123.3 3.0 44,589 231,3 4.3% 220,925 316,7
The breakdown of Turkish apparel and ready-made article exports is provided in
Table 17. As a result of the quota restrictions, as opposed to the general product mix of
Turkish apparel exports, woven products have a higher share in Turkish exports to the
United States led by denim and cotton pants, shirts, and man-made apparel.
The United States has quotas on textiles and apparel from Turkey. Canada also
imposes quotas on selected categories. The quota-restricted categories and the percentage
of these quotas filled in textiles and apparel are shown in Tables 18 and 19. In textiles,
made-up sheets, and yarn containing 85% or more by weight synthetic staple have the
highest quota fill rates of the quotas with fill rates of 96%, and 80% respectively. In
apparel, underwear; nightgowns and pajamas; and dressing gowns and robes have the
highest quota usage rates of the quotas with rates 99%, 98.5%, and 96.5% respectively.
The quotas are distributed according to certain regulations by the regional exporter
associations. The way these permits are distributed includes conditions regarding the past
performance of the company, i.e., the export volumes in the previous years, whether the
company violated any of the regulations in the previous years, etc., and the type of the
company, i.e., whether it is a trader or manufacturer. Once the permit is obtained, it can
be used to export, transferred (or sold) to another company, or returned to the association
for partial credit for next year’s calculation of the past performance. These regulations are
set by the associations after the quota levels are determined between Turkey and the
United States and Canada.
These exporters associations report to the Undersecreteriat of Foreign Trade in the

Prime Ministry. The fill rate information of all the categories is available at these trade
associations. For example, the largest trade association in Turkey, Istanbul Textile and
Apparel Exporters Association (ITKIB), communicates this information through its web
site (www.itkib.org.tr). Once a company gets a permit to export from an exporter

organization, that company can export directly to the United States without obtaining
another permit from US agencies.

Table 17. Product Mix of Turkish Apparel Exports to USA (1999, Jan-Nov)
Knitted products
Quantity Value ($) Unit value
Cotton knitted T-shirt 17,189,868 63,603,736 3.70
Cotton knitted Men’s Shirt 5,634,950 27,546,713 4.89
Cotton socks 4,743,741 1,997,775 0.42
Cotton women’s nightgown 5,115,099 27,023,902 5.28
Cotton women’s cardigan, sweater 4,600,937 23,117,559 5.02
Cotton women’s pants 4,539,471 22,836,666 5.03
Men’s cardigan, vest 1,971,109 11,487,679 5.83
Cotton women’s shirts 2,152,168 11,449,568 5.32
Cotton women’s sweater 2,515,336 11,169,547 4.44
Cotton women’s pajamas 1,810,795 10,914,474 6.03
Woven products
Quantity Value ($) Unit
value
Denim men’s pants 15,761,691 132,015,436 8.38
Cotton men’s pants 11,599,933 119,491,137 10.30
Cotton men’s shirts 12,701,245 117,893,316 9.28
Cotton women’s pants 9,936,718 89,273,186 8.98
Man-made women’s pants 8,856,820 80,046,262 9.04
Cotton women’s prof. pants 8,383,094 73,721,168 8.79
Man-made women’s blouse 9,207,248 71,532,773 7.77
Man-made women’s jacket 4,550,059 63,003,097 13.85
blazer
Man-made women’s prof. 6,459,806 53,024,823 8.21
pants
Man-made men’s prof. pants 5,751,030 45,952,492 7.99
Ready-made articles
Quantity Value ($) Unit
value
Man-Made knitted tulle 3,583,022 12,364,510 3.45
curtains
Man-made tulle curtains 1,848,789 5,734,815 3.10
Man-Made knitted curtains, 1,764,310 5,136,226 2.91
drapery, bedskirt (farbela)
Man-Made woven curtains, 642,437 1,757,501 2.74
drapery, bedskirt (farbela)
Man-made woven tablecloths 1,004,583 1,471,952 1.47
Man-made knitted curtains 155,788 1,210,204 7.77
Woven blankets 115,663 843,196 7.29
Woven tulle curtains 308,574 735,192 2.38
Man-made toilet/ kitchen 479,410 557,246 1.16
cloths
Man-made woven curtains 61 479,547 7.83

Table 18. Turkish Textile Exports to USA in Quota-Restricted Categories (2001)

Category Content Quota Level Quota
Filled
(%)
200 Yarns put up for retail sale and sewing thread 2,177,696 kg 35.0 %
219 Duck 51,611,668 m2 45.7 %
300/301 Carded cotton yarn, Combed cotton yarn 10,017,781 kg 38.2 %
313 Sheeting 63,080,926 m2 14.2 %
314 Poplin&broadcloth 36,701,630 m2 0.3 %
315 Printcloth 49,317,818 m2 0%
317 Twills 51,611,668 m2 7.6 %
326 Sateens 5,734,628 m2 0.8 %
361 Made-up Sheets 2,576,045 No 95.9 %
369-S Other cotton manufactures 2,245,602 Kg 26.4 %
Woven fabric, MMF fabric woven, containing
410/624 more than 15% but less than 36% wool 1,302,199 M2 38.4 %
Yarn containing 85% or more by weight synthetic
604 staple fiber 3,223,232 Kg 80.3 %
Woven fabric containing 85% or more by weight
611 artificial staple 68,334,865 M2 4.0 %
617 Twills&sateens 34,407,781 M2 3.3 %
Poplin&broad cloth of staple/filament fiber
625 combination 9,293,541 M2 19.4 %
626 Print cloth of staple/filament fiber combination 9,293,541 M2 1.5 %
627 Sheeting of staple/filament fiber combinations 9,293,541 M2 0.1 %
Twills&sateens of staple/filament fiber
628 combinations 9,293,541 M2 1.2 %
629 Other fabrics of staple/filament fiber combinations 9,293,541 M2 17.9 %
Source: US Customs Service Textile Status Report, 10-22-2001
Table 19. Turkish Apparel Exports to USA in Quota-Restricted Categories

Category Content Quota Level Quota
(dozens) Filled (%)
335 W&G coats 373,737 29.0 %
336/636 Dresses 1,078,390 26.7 %
338/339/63 M&B knit shirts, W&G knit shirts&blouses, M&B
8/ 639 knitshirts, W&G knit shirts & blouses doz 12.50 7,032,913 95.7 %
340/640 M&B shirts, not knit 1,570,897 11.7 %
341/641 W&G shirts&blouses, not knit 1,733,429 21.4 %
342/642 Skirts 1,104,390 27.0 %
M&B trousers, breeches&shorts, W&G trousers,
347/348 breeches&shorts 7,090,182 59.4 %
350 Robes, dressing gowns,etc 833,056 96.5 %
351/651 Nightwear and pajamas 1,260,126 98.5 %
352/652 Underwear 3,460,161 98.9 %
448 W&G trousers, breeches&shorts 38,977 60.1 %
Source: US Customs Service Textile Status Report, 10-22-2001
3. Production Capacity and Utilization
Turkey is currently one of the top ten countries in terms of its capacity in fabric
spinning and weaving. It accounts for 2.78% of the world’s capacity and 41.45% of the
Europe’s capacity in ring spinning in short staples, 4.44% of the world’s capacity and
10.15% of the Europe’s capacity in long staples. It also accounts for 4.62% of the world’s
capacity and 9.26% of the Europe’s capacity in open-end rotors [9].
Table 20. Textile Machinery Capacity (1996)

Share of the Installed Capacity
(units) World Europe
Short Staple Spindles 4,544,000 2.78% 41.45%
Long Staple Spindles 743,000 4.44% 10.15%
Open End Rotors 349,800 4.62% 9.26%
Shuttle-less looms 18,000 2.65% 6.39%
Shuttle Loom 40,000 2.34% 41.43%
Filament looms 3,000 0.50% 6.78%
Wool looms 6,250 4.16% 10.67%
Source: ITMF International Textile Machinery shipment Statistics 1997 [17]
Before the announcement of the customs union on January 1, 1996, the textile and
apparel industry invested heavily in production capacity and technology with the
expectation that exports to Europe would increase substantially after the customs union.
This expectation brought substantial investment in textile machinery (Table 21).

Table 21. Textile Machinery Imports (Million $)
1989 1992 1995 1996 1997 1998

408 834 1,544 2,362 1,989 1,345
Source: State Institute of Statistics reports (1998)
During the three-year period before the customs union, the ring spinning capacity
increased by 10.6% to 4.5 million spindles in the short staple sector, and increased by 5.53%
to 740,000 spindles in the long staple sector. Similarly, open-end fabric spinning capacity
increased by 79.2% to 350000 rotors, and the number of shuttle-less looms increased by 65%
to 18,000. Especially in the open-end production, the new investments created excess
capacity
A study on the age distribution of the machinery used in the spinning and weaving in
Turkey reveals that 78.8% of the open-end and 38.8% of the ring machines were six-years
old or newer [20].
U.S. textile machinery exports to Turkey totaled only $6 million in 1998, a 78.3
percent decline from the $27.6 million in exports during 1997. However, Turkey imported
$15.8 million worth of textile machinery in 1999 for a 162.8 percent increase over 1998.
Thus, in 1999, Turkey was the eleventh largest market for this industry sector in U.S.
Although, a domestic textile machinery industry exists, it is not developed enough to

support the textile and apparel industry. Heavy reliance on imported textile machinery
creates additional problems for the industry such as increased costs, availability, timeliness
and cost of after sales technical service, etc.
In addition to this over capacity, mainly stagnant European markets, depreciation of

the Euro against the dollar, and rising production costs reduced the capacity utilization
ratios for textiles from 81% in 1995 to 79% in 2000, and for apparel from 90% in 1995 to
82% in 2000 (Table 22).
Table 22. Capacity Utilization Ratios (%) in Textile and Apparel Industry
Textile Apparel
Year Public Private Total Public Private Total
1995 58,40 82,60 81,40 81,8 90,5 89,8
1997 62.475 83.9 83.02 67.1 84.2 82.7
1998 55.45 78.02 77.47 59.3 80.5 78.6
1999 43.52 57.02 74.80 34.8 79.7 75.5
2000 37.50 79.95 79.05 33.9 83.4 81.9
Source: State Planning Organization: Fundamental Economic Indicators [3].
Materials such as buttons, zippers, and tags are also produced locally at medium to
high quality levels. The apparel industry uses both domestic and imported supply in
production. Chemicals used in dyeing and finishing are mainly imported.

4. Production and Demand
As a result of the availability of raw materials and early industrialization of the sector,
Turkey is now one of the major producers in all segments of the industry from fiber
production, to textiles, and apparel. Table 23 summarizes the production and demand in
Turkey’s textile and apparel industry. Since Turkey is one of the largest producers of cotton
in the world, the textile and apparel industry is mainly based on cotton. However, as a
result of similar trends in the world markets, man-made yarn and fabric production is
gaining more importance.
Turkey has one of the world’s leading spinning industries with its installed capacity of
approximately 5 million spindles equivalent. With the investments in the recent years,
open-end spinning of short-staple fibers is particularly advanced.

Turkey is self-sufficient, even a net exporter in all fibers except fine wool (worsteds)
and viscose rayon that are freely imported from anywhere in the world. A variety of yarn
production including twisted yarns, fancy yarns etc. are available in Turkey.
Table 23. Summary of Production and Demand in Turkish Textile and Apparel Sector
1997 1998 (est.)

Production Demand Production Demand
Cotton Cotton (1000 ton) 779 1,032 796 1042
Yarn (1000 ton) 758 729 790 754
Woven Fabric (Million meter) 1,386 1,334 1455 1379
Woolen Yarn (1000 ton) 122 126 128 132
Fabric (Million meter) 68 75 69 76
Man-Made Yarn (1000 ton) 75 66 79 67
Fabric (Million meter) 60 172 73 177
Knitted Goods (1000 ton) 185 35 201 35
Ready-Made Garments (1000 ton) 237 38 260 39
Source: Developments in Economic and Social Sectors (1998), State Planning Organization [17]
5.1. Cotton Textiles
Turkey is the seventh largest producer and the fifth largest consumer of cotton (Table
24). Especially, the cotton produced in the western part of Turkey, around Izmir, is
considered to be the best quality cotton in the world markets. However, when the overall
production is considered, a study on the dirtiness of cotton conducted by ITMF
(International Textiles Manufacturers Federation) in 1998 ranks Turkey third after India
and Pakistan. This is regarded as one of the most important problems of cotton yarn
industry [13].
Table 24. Cotton Production and Demand in the World
Production (1000 ton) Demand (1000 ton)
Country 99/00 00/01 99/00 00/01
U.S.A 3.694 3.788 2.199 2.134
China 3.830 3.700 4.850 4.900
India 2.635 2.550 2.938 2.993
Pakistan 1.657 1.700 1.655 1.703
Uzbekistan 1.128 900 N/A N/A
Brazil 623 755 850 900
Turkey 792 739 1.175 1.200
Africa (France) Region 861 726 N/A N/A
Australia 712 704 N/A N/A
Greece 420 400 N/A N/A
Source: Cotton Outlook, December 2000 [4]
Although cotton production cannot meet demand now, it is expected to exceed the
demand in coming years after the completion of the South Anatolian Project (GAP). The
South Anatolian Project is a $32 billion project which includes the construction of 22 dams
and 19 hydroelectric plants on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and the irrigation a dry area
of land the size of Austria to transform it into a fertile area. With the completion of this
project, cotton production is expected to double by 2005. New projects including the one to
produce colored cotton have been planned in the project.
Turkey has been producing more cotton yarn than its demand for a number of years
(Table 26). It is expected that this trend will continue and there will be a cotton yarn
surplus in coming years. Following this trend, cotton yarn exports haven been increasing
while the imports have been decreasing (Table 26).
Table 25. Cotton Production, Consumption, Import and Export in Turkey

Export Import
Year Production Demand Amount Value ($) Unit Amount Value ($) Unit
(ton) (Ton) (kg) price (kg) price
($/kg) ($/kg)
1990 654,600 540,000 112,938,000 176,940,323 1.56 79,107,673 137,447,432 1.73
1991 561,227 625,000 117,672,282 183,964,757 1.56 49,115,715 80,526,961 1.63
1992 573,706 625,000 47,388,007 57,126,697 1.20 152,703,576 194,320,107 1.27
1993 602,238 700,000 149,192,750 156,080,636 1.04 201,666,433 247,693,927 1.22
1994 628,286 850,000 47,106,227 51,334,095 1.08 149,063,000 240,000,360 1.61
1995 851,487 950,000 31,341,894 37,792,935 1.20 186,552,193 383,139,977 2.05
1996 784,047 1,050,000 108,846,258 158,021,794 1.45 169,890,951 303,768,081 1.79
1997 831,672 1,150,000 71,597,885 90,726,367 1.27 362,892,152 632,521,995 1.74
1998 802,195 1,200,000 49,284,601 53657,546 1.09 175,115,619 286,348,547 1,64
(est.) (est.)
Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs reports, ITKIB/DTM reports [17]
Table 26. Cotton Yarn Production, Demand, Import and Export

Export Import
(ton) (Ton) (kg) price (kg) price
($/kg) ($/kg)
1990 515,000 477,700 68,101,946 247,625,506 3.63 30,810,147 94,377,427 3.06
1991 520,000 490,800 56,983,951 186,767,275 3.27 27,667,024 85,695,886 3.09
1992 512,000 506,200 32,866,030 101,982,047 3.10 26,943,420 80,405,495 2.98
1993 517,600 548,100 31,637,030 75,272,181 2.37 62,132,504 167,796,466 2.70
1994 560,300 526,800 86,801,731 250,517,059 2.88 53,288,824 167,247,198 3.13
1995 600,000 619,000 39,733,257 137,878,668 3.47 58,795,323 221,607,817 3.76
1996 690,000 689,000 44,547,108 139,254,031 3.13 43,184,176 150,090,817 3.48
1997 758,000 729,000 70,025,960 224,328,546 3.20 41,164,945 137,180,691 3.33
1998 790,000 754,000 98,187,081 289,459,369 2.95 35,179,968 114,441,505 3.25
(est.) (est.)
Source: State Planning Organization reports, ITKIB/DTM reports [17]
Table 27. Cotton Woven Fabric Production, Demand, Import and Export
Export Import
(million (million (kg) price (kg) price
meter) meter) ($/kg) ($/kg)
1990 1,088.2 1,060.1 28,572,720 163,211,940 5.71 16,515,426 71,975,988 4.35
1991 1,097.0 1,063.5 29,737,792 157,300,867 5.28 12,967,616 57,585,984 4.44
1992 1,100,3 1,068.2 34,172,823 181,941,058 5.32 13,781,037 65,239,190 4.73
1993 1,150.0 1,173.8 38,121,003 174,999,998 4.59 26,860,065 112,308,109 4.18
1994 1,180.0 1,137.1 62,707,886 299,636,877 4.77 29,769,093 141,908,964 4.76
1995 1,210.0 1,244.0 50,876,914 330,535,631 6.49 48,536,459 281,156,378 5.79
1996 1,296.0 1,264.0 54,400,954 346,548,599 6.37 38,807,510 266,884,175 6.88
1997 1,386.0 1,334.0 60,718,744 358,581,471 5.91 38,772,918 275,773,586 7.11
1998 1,455.0 1,379.0 87,630,000 398,440,000 4.55 36,994,000 271,060,000 7.33
(est.) (est.)
The cotton woven production and demand in Turkey have been very close to each
other. While in some years, the production could not meet the demand; in other years, the
production exceeded the demand (Table 27). As a result of the capacity increase in recent
years, it is expected that production will exceed demand in the future. The total value of
the cotton woven fabric exports has been increasing. The export of woven fabric reached
$400 million in 1998. After the customs union in 1996, the imports of woven fabrics
increased with a higher increase in unit price.
5.2. Woolen Textiles
Although Turkey is one of the big wool producers, most of the production is not of the
desired quality for the textile and apparel sector. As a result, the industry is a net importer
of high quality wool (Table 28). The production and demand of woolen yarn have been
increasing with the demand being slightly above the production (Table 29).
The demand for woolen fabric has been exceeding the production for the last five
years (Table 30). The export and import volumes have been increasing during the same
time. However, the unit price of the exported fabric has been above the unit price of the
imported one. Following the customs union, the amount and also the value of woolen fabric
imports almost tripled.
Table 28. Wool Production, Consumption, Import and Export in Turkey

Export Import
(1000 ton) (1000 (kg) price (kg) price
ton) ($/kg) ($/kg)
1990 42.0 66.1 1,072,360 3,815,697 3.55 34,594,640 105,340,872 3.04
1991 40.0 63.8 2,054,943 7,154,313 3.48 34,037,431 79,358,295 2.33
1992 38.0 64.2 1,461,096 2,742,614 1.97 36,197,723 97,870,720 2.70
1993 38.0 71.8 1,228,590 1,820,235 1.48 46,447,775 101,581,495 2.18
1994 38.0 57.3 5,571,750 7,966,278 1.42 29,132,918 75,848,446 2.60
1995 40.5 77.5 3,307,723 5,454,866 1.64 46,188,322 156,682,985 3.39
1996 41.5 80.5 9,202,316 9,657,451 1.05 44,980,636 132,651,338 2.95
1997 42.5 82.5 14,124,641 18,917,025 1.34 47,378,242 145,326,704 3.07
1998 44.0 85.0 18,917,451 13,055,156 1.81 55,336,005 129,022,920 2.33
1999 45.0 86.0
Source: World Market for Wool/ the Economist Intelligence Unit, ITKIB/DTM reports [17]
Table 29. Woolen Yarn Production, Demand, Import and Export

Export Import
Year Production Dema Amount Value Unit Amount Value ($) Unit
(1000 ton) nd (kg) ($) price (kg) price
(1000 ($/kg) ($/kg)
Ton)
1990 96.0 96.4 454,940 3,881,128 8.53 823,872 12,734,947 15.45
1991 99.0 99.9 300,236 1,887,659 6.28 1,078,565 16,249,552 15.06
1992 107.3 108.8 204,959 1,254,844 6.12 1,735,278 25,260,599 14.55
1993 110.0 113.0 314,937 2,916,007 9.25 3,342,608 35,073,290 10.49
1994 105.7 107.1 620,806 5,622,156 9.05 2,031,958 26,757,832 13.16
1995 110.0 113.0 696,749 5,552,796 7.96 3,631,801 47,867,883 13.18
1996 115.0 120.0 575,910 4,701,352 8.16 5,311,886 64,381,126 12.12
1997 122.0 126.0 929,470 8,128,683 8.75 4,498,316 55,603,310 12.36
1998 128.0 132.0 1,304,063 8,674,513 6.65 3,782,833 46,587,618 12,32
(est.) (est.)
Table 30. Woolen Fabric Production, Demand, Import and Export

Export Import
(million (million (kg) price (kg) price
1990 60.5 61.1 403,269 11,319,168 28.06 667,998 10,656,990 15.95
1991 62.5 62.1 480,114 13,195,707 27.48 647,591 10,231,385 15.79
1992 64.3 64.7 907,995 25,985,938 28.61 1,066,953 19,221,901 18.01
1993 65.5 67.6 1,254,291 31,191,391 24.86 2,050,521 27,923,652 13.61
1994 66.0 65.4 1,595,747 39,160,579 24.54 1,270,884 23,156,015 18.22
1995 70.0 68.0 2,379,476 64,369,561 27.05 1,584,448 34,392,867 21.70
1996 68.0 72.0 2,295,630 69,801,026 30.41 4,622,227 108,052,986 23.38
1997 68.0 75.0 2,645,134 74,843,609 28.29 5,818,663 122,230,656 21.01
1998 69.0 76.0 4,420,754 107,296,450 24,27
(est.) (est.)
5.3. Man-
Man-made Textiles
Turkey is also an important producer of synthetic fibers and yarns with an estimated
capacity of 500,000 tons per year. However, the production cannot meet demand and
nearly 30% of the demand is met from imports.
Man-made fibers have been produced in Turkey for more than sixty years. Although
the production of man-made fiber has been increasing steadily in the last decade, the
demand has been increasing more, and as a result, the gap between the production and the
demand has been widening (Table 31). Therefore, the import of man-made fibers is
expected to increase (Table 32).
Although the production of man-made yarn was sufficient to meet the demand in
early 90s, as a result of rapid increase in the demand, it is expected that the production of
man-made yarns will not meet the demand except polyamide yarns (Table 33). After the
customs union, the total value of man-made yarns increased by 85% (Table 34).
The production of man-made fabric was sufficient to meet the demand at the
beginning of 90s. However, the man-made fabric production has been decreasing, while the
demand has been increasing (Table 35). It is expected that demand for man-made fabrics
will be 104 million meters higher than production in 1998. However, the amount of both
the man-made fabric exports and also the imports have been increasing in the last decade.
It is observed that Turkey has been exporting man-made fabrics with higher unit prices
while importing the cheaper ones (Table 35).
Table 31. Man-Made Fiber Production and Demand

Acrylic Fiber Polyamide Fiber Polyester Fiber Polypropylene Fiber
Year Production Demand Production Demand Production Demand Production Demand
(1000 ton) (1000 ton) (1000 ton) (1000 ton) (1000 ton) (1000 ton) (1000 ton) (1000 ton)
1990 129 165 2 5 47 53 16 17
1991 133 133 1 3 40 52 28 28
1992 139 161 1 4 46 63 29 29
1993 145 203 2 7 48 67 30 31
1994 150 163 2 5 58 63 26 27
1995 173 185 2 9 69 72 32 33
1996 185 201 3 9 75 87 33 35
1997 201 222 3 9 91 110 33 35
1998(est.) 200 210 4 14 100 110 35 38
Table 32. Man-Made Fiber Export and Import

Export Import
Year Amount Value ($) Unit price Amount Value Unit price
(kg) ($/kg) (kg) (Million $) ($/kg)
1990 40,461,954 77,629,024 1.91 124,804,143 234,563,537 1.87
1991 42,437,587 69,490,902 1.63 92,493,489 175,906,271 1.90
1992 27,763,777 44,649,547 1.60 110,522,521 195,231,909 1.76
1993 21,544,933 31,389,267 1.45 147,411,366 226,719,972 1.54
1994 55,118,761 79,181,945 1.43 115,773,111 170,299,443 1.47
1995 55,771,935 103,651,382 1.85 139,890,882 277,811,354 1.99
1996 55,069,740 85,808,791 1.56 146,464,582 297,845,175 2.03
1997 50,212,795 81,863,387 1.63 173,985,609 306,308,387 1.76
Table 33. Man-Made Yarn Production and Demand

Polyamide Yarn Polyester Yarn Polypropylene Yarn
Year Production Demand Production Demand Production Demand
(1000 ton) (1000 ton) (1000 ton) (1000 ton) (1000 ton) (1000 ton)
1990 25 36 85 67 18 18
1991 38 33 95 70 19 19
1992 46 40 102 87 19 20
1993 46 42 115 126 20 20
1994 42 31 107 83 17 19
1995 42 33 140 142 24 26
1996 43 41 170 161 24 27
1997 44 40 187 203 30 33
1998(est.) 45 43 195 270 30 35
Source: State Planning Organization reports [17]
Table 34. Man-Made Yarn Export and Import

Export Import
Year Amount Value ($) Unit price Amount Value Unit price
(kg) ($/kg) (kg) (Million $) ($/kg)
1990 67,323,097 229,629,614 3.40 48,870,346 201,116,959 4.11
1991 80,594,456 271,801,835 3.37 40,742,695 169,953,525 4.17
1992 86,504,969 316,025,843 3.65 63,132,483 236,958,706 3.75
1993 81,898,388 256,808,875 3.13 98,442,823 281,605,703 2.86
1994 118,143,049 322,930,202 2.73 81,169,960 243,761,520 3.00
1995 102,945,186 340,471,193 3.30 125,929,316 450,822,172 3.58
1996 114,219,917 350,873,104 3.07 132,092,412 478,802,612 3.62
1997 133,850,808 395,143,060 2.95 142,917,650 445,105,003 3.11
Source: ITKIB/DTM reports [17]
Table 35. Man-Made Fabric Production, Demand, Import and Export

Export Import
Year Production Demand Amount Value ($) Unit Amount Value Unit
(million (million (kg) price (kg) (Million $) price
1990 120.9 120.3 12,391,689 124,438,431 10.04 10,177,714 64,566,705 6.34
1991 111.8 122.7 11,677,115 115,071,956 9.85 12,458,954 81,882,524 6.57
1992 100.1 126.4 15,869,231 173,351,143 10.92 18,404,906 121,603,101 6.60
1993 94 172.3 20,736,091 225,579,602 10.87 34,469,217 187,564,070 5.44
1994 84 166.2 31,232,208 303,179,424 9.70 42,589,104 221,512,300 5.20
1995 68 258 36,269,323 519,457,619 14.32 74,218,126 416,509,240 5.61
1996 80 158 36,134,066 444,455,666 12.30 72,159,037 448,027,116 6.76
1997 60 172 54,262,754 522,867,948 9.64 72,869,554 527,637,158 7.24
1998(est.) 73 177
5.4. Apparel Production
The apparel industry produces more knitted products than the woven ones and more
basic items such as unstructured tops and bottoms than tailored garments. A closer look at
the apparel exports shows that the apparel exports has a product mix of around 60%
knitted and 40% woven products (Table 36). The main export items are t-shirt, sweatshirt,
underwear, sleeping wear, socks, men shirts, and pants. However, due to decreasing
competitiveness in basic items, there has been a trend towards increased production of
structured garment production, i.e., jackets, suits, coats, etc. in the industry. The recent
investments in weaving and in processing (dyeing, printing, finishing) of woven fabrics also
support this trend.

Table 36. Product Mix of Turkish Apparel Exports
1996 1997 1998 1999
Knitted T-Shirt 13.0% 14.4% 16.8% 17.9%
Pullover 18.0% 16.2% 16.7% 15.9%
Pants, jackets 9.4% 9.4% 9.2% 8.5%
Underwear 8.6% 10.1% 8.2% 7.0%
Shirts 5.7% 5.3% 5.2% 4.0%
Socks 3.9% 3.9% 3.7% 3.9%
Others 3.4% 3.4% 3.0% 2.9%
Outwear 0.3% 0.4% 0.3% 0.3%
Total 62% 63% 63% 60%
Woven Pants, jackets 18.8% 19.2% 20.9% 23.5%
Shirts 8.3% 8.0% 7.1% 5.9%
Underwear 3.4% 3.6% 3.8% 4.2%
Others 3.5% 2.9% 2.5% 3.7%
Outwear 3.5% 3.2% 2.6% 2.3%
Total 38% 37% 37% 40%
Source: Undersecreteriat of Foreign Trade reports (1999)
In recent years, a number of foreign manufacturers have formed license agreements.
Currently, more than 10 foreign brands of denim jeans, including Levi’s, Lee, Jordache,
Lois, and Fronti, are produced in Turkey and exported to foreign markets.
In addition to apparel, Turkey is also a major producer of home textiles. However,

the statistics on home textiles are not widely available. It is estimated that approximately
6.5 million duvets, 1.5 million sheets, 2.5 million tablecloths and 1.5 million blankets are
produced annually (IBS, 2000).
5. Industry Structure
Textile and apparels are produced by a number of private firms and state-economic-
enterprises (SEE). The textile and apparel industry flourished as a state-protected industry
in Turkey. In 1930s, after the republic was founded in 1923, the state owned all the textile
and apparel factories as a part of the largest SEE, Sumerbank. As a part of the ongoing
privatization program, the privatization of all state-owned enterprises in the textile and
apparel industry has been planned. The privatization of Sumerbank started in 1995 and
still continues. As a result of the transformation from a state economy to a more liberal
economy, privately owned companies constitute the majority of textile and apparel firms
today.
Most of the firms are small to medium size. The number of establishments in the
textile and apparel is 44,192 according to a study by the Ministry of Labor in 1997. Most of
these companies are family owned and managed. The textile and apparel production is
concentrated on the west, south, and central parts of Turkey around Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa,
Denizli, Adana, Gaziantep Kahramanmaras, Eskisehir, Ankara, Corlu, Malatya, and Usak.
A map of Turkey is provided in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Map of Turkey

The Ministry of Labor’s number for the number of employees in the textile and
apparel industry was 505,153 in 1999. However, it is not possible to obtain exact statistics
due to the fact that many small firms that employ unregistered workers to avoid taxes are
not included in the studies. According to the estimates of unions, it is estimated that there
are more than 2,000,000 workers employed in the Turkish textile and apparel industry
(Dunya, 1998).
The State Statistics Institute collects information on establishments that have more
than 10 employees. The distribution of the number of establishments that employ more
than 10 employees in the textile and apparel industry is given in Tables 37 and 38. Tables
39 and 40 give the distribution of the number of employees in different size establishments.
The average number of employees in a textile establishment was 135 and the average
number of employees in an apparel establishment was 69 in 1995.
Table 37. Size Distribution of the Establishments in the Apparel Industry (as % )
Size No. of 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
employees
5 10-24 62.9 47.4 39.0 34.1 31.1 30.6 30.5 48.1 44.3 41.1 34.8
6 25-49 19.3 24.6 26.9 28.6 30.9 31.2 31.3 25.5 27.7 28.7 31.7
7 50-99 9.4 15.0 19.0 20.6 20.2 20.5 20.4 14.2 14.6 15.2 16.1
8 100-199 5.1 8.7 9.6 9.6 11.0 10.3 11.7 8.1 8.6 9.4 10.5
9 200-499 2.5 3.4 4.1 5.3 5.1 5.8 5.0 3.5 4.2 4.8 5.4
10 500-999 0.6 0.5 1.0 1.4 1.4 1.1 1.1 0.6 0.5 0.7 1.3
11 1000- 0.1 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.3 0.4 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1
Average size: 6.23. Source: State Statistics Institute
Table 38. Size Distribution of the Establishments in the Textile Industry (as % )
Size No. of 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
employees
5 10-24 21.6 13.3 9.5 7.5 6.8 6.7 7.0 13.6 12.1 10.7 8.1
6 25-49 15.4 14.6 13.9 13.6 14.3 14.3 15.3 16.8 17.5 17.0 16.1
7 50-99 15.1 17.6 19.8 19.4 18.8 19.3 20.3 18.5 18.1 17.4 16.1
8 100-199 16.5 20.8 20.4 18.0 19.8 18.5 22.6 21.0 21.0 21.2 20.8
9 200-499 17.3 19.0 18.9 20.5 20.0 22.9 21.1 20.3 22.0 23.9 24.3
10 500-999 10.5 4.6 8.9 12.3 13.4 10.1 10.7 7.1 5.7 7.3 11.6
11 1000- 3.6 10.1 8.7 8.7 6.8 8.2 3.1 2.7 3.6 2.5 3.1
Average size: 6.4. Source: State Statistics Institute
Table 39. Distribution of the Number of Employees in the Apparel Industry (as % )
Size No. of 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
employees
5 10-24 21.6 13.3 9.5 7.5 6.8 6.7 7.0 13.6 12.1 10.7 8.1
6 25-49 15.4 14.6 13.9 13.6 14.3 14.3 15.3 16.8 17.5 17.0 16.1
7 50-99 15.1 17.6 19.8 19.4 18.8 19.3 20.3 18.5 18.1 17.4 16.1
8 100-199 16.5 20.8 20.4 18.0 19.8 18.5 22.6 21.0 21.0 21.2 20.8
9 200-499 17.3 19.0 18.9 20.5 20.0 22.9 21.1 20.3 22.0 23.9 24.3
10 500-999 10.5 4.6 8.9 12.3 13.4 10.1 10.7 7.1 5.7 7.3 11.6
11 1000- 3.6 10.1 8.7 8.7 6.8 8.2 3.1 2.7 3.6 2.5 3.1
Source: State Statistics Institute
Table 40. Distribution of the Number of Employees in the Textile Industry (as % )
Size No. of 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
employees
5 10-24 6.3 5.1 4.2 3.6 3.2 3.0 3.1 4.8 3.8 3.4 3.3
6 25-49 6.4 6.1 5.6 5.3 5.2 5.1 6.4 7.4 7.3 6.9 6.8
7 50-99 7.3 6.9 6.5 6.3 6.1 6.1 7.3 9.0 8.4 8.8 8.1
8 100-199 8.5 8.8 9.4 9.4 9.5 10.0 9.9 11.9 12.2 13.0 13.5
9 200-499 17.1 15.6 15.8 15.5 16.0 18.2 19.9 19.9 23.9 22.2 21.9
10 500-999 16.7 17.7 18.4 16.0 16.5 14.4 15.7 14.9 15.7 18.4 18.4
11 1000- 37.7 40.0 40.2 44.0 43.5 43.2 37.8 32.1 28.7 27.4 27.8
Source: State Statistics Institute
Tables 41, 42, and 43 give the index of production workers, wages, and production
relative to their levels in 1997. Employment in textile and apparel has been decreasing in
the public sector as a result of privatization programs. In the private sector, employment
has dropped slightly as a result of drop in total production.

Table 41. Index of Production Workers in Manufacturing Industry (1997=100)
Textile Apparel
Public Private Total Public Private Total

Year
1995 154,8 84,7 89,4 120,1 82,4 84,1
1996 114,7 92,5 94,0 102,8 91,3 91,7
1997 100,0 100,0 100,0 100,0 100,0 100,0
1998 67,4 99,1 97,1 90,8 98,7 98,4
1999 57,9 84,9 83,2 86,4 88,0 87,9
2000 49,9 84,4 82,2 80,7 85,3 85,1
Table 42. Index of Production Workers Hourly Wages in Manufacturing Industry

(1997=100)
Textile
Apparel
1995 32,4 27,4 28,6 26,3 23,3 24,1
1996 48,0 54,1 53,9 46,0 48,8 48,8
1997 100,0 100,0 100,0 100,0 100,0 100,0
1998 208,8 176,1 177,2 167,5 163,0 162,1
1999 428,2 329,8 333,6 252,2 296,2 292,1
2000 834,0 472,7 485,5 576,8 431,1 430,5
Table 43. Production Index of Manufacturing Industry

(Weighted by Value Added 1997=100)
Textile
Apparel
1995 126.6 82.6 83.7 168.4 93.2 94.9
1996 104.7 91.7 92.0 153.3 97.9 98.9
1997 100,0 100,0 100,0 100,0 100,0 100,0
1998 80,1 93,9 93,6 65,6 107,9 106,7
1999 52,5 87,8 87,0 44,8 103,7 102,0
2000 49,2 96,7 95,7 22,2 111,4 108,7
Source: State Planning Organization
In 1996, the government started giving a special “sector foreign trade company” status
to organizations that bring together a number of small- to medium-size companies. These

companies specialize in areas related to foreign trade such as financing, logistics,
distribution, insurance, and provide these services to their members to help them in
exports. Among 26 of these companies in Turkey, 10 of them are in textile and apparel.
The customs union, the South Anatolian Project, proximity to Europe, low labor
costs, among others, started attracting foreign investment. Among 1028 foreign owned
companies in manufacturing, there are 137 apparel and 49 textile firms in 1998 (Table 44).
The government is continuing providing incentives to companies that invest in Turkey.
Compared to the other sectors in manufacturing, the textile and apparel industry has not
attracted considerable foreign investment in recent years (Table 45). Foreign direct
investment in apparel industry is about 1% of all foreign investment in Turkey (IBS, 2000)
Table 44. Number of Foreign-Owned Firms in Textile and Apparel Industry
Apparel Textile
Capital (Million Capital (Million
Year Number of firms TL.) Number of firms TL.)
1990 58 44,686 26 62,817
1991 74 211,081 32 51,045
1992 84 224,054 32 51,045
1993 88 276,592 31 140,090
1994 99 416,429 35 153,437
1995 108 672,224 33 127,920
1996 121 916,516 39 202,635
1997 135 1,258,853 47 1,751,036
1998 137 2,631,069 49 2,695,485
1999 158 11,300,000 56 4,500,000
Source: Turkish Treasury reports [17]
Table 45. Number of Foreign Investment Licenses

No. of licenses Foreign Capital Share in total Manufacturing
(million $) No. of licenses Capital
1994 63 23.9 14.4% 2.2%
1995 65 40.9 15.8% 2.0%
1996 54 40.9 15.3% 6.5%
1997 83 85.7 18.8% 9.9%
1998 65 52.3 14.3% 5.1%
1999 46 27.8 11.1% 2.5%
2000 39 41.3 9.3% 3.7%
Source: State Planning Organization: Fundamental Economic Indicators [4].
The government also supports the industry by providing investment incentives that
ease the financial burden of investment by deferred tax payments, reductions, etc. The
textile and apparel industry has been utilizing these incentives to grow. The majority of
the investment incentives in manufacturing are given to firms in textile and manufacturing
(Table 46). In nominal terms, investments in textile and apparel industry reached its peak
point in 1995.
Table 46. Government Investment Incentives to the Textile/Apparel Industry
Government Investment Incentive Certificates Given Investment Levels (Million TL)
Production Textile and % of Textile and Production Textile and % of Textile
Apparel Apparel in Apparel and Apparel
Production in Production
1995 3,745 2,360 63 1,915,498,755 1,555,159,116 81
1996 3,305 1,124 34 1,424,368,000 676,150,880 47
1997 3,180 1,214 38 2,034,412,000 763,930,056 37
Source: Turkish Treasury reports [17]
6. Competitiveness of the Textile and Apparel Industry
7.1. Cost Structure
When the price of cotton in Turkey is compared to world cotton prices, it is observed
that the price in Turkey has been above the world prices. One of the reasons for this
deviation is the government’s policy of giving support to cotton production. In recent
years, the gap between the local and global prices has been diminishing [17].
The labor costs in textile industry increased steadily from $0.95/hour in 1980 to
$4.44/hour in 1993. After the devaluation of Turkish lira in 1994, the labor costs went
down to $2.48 in 1998 (Table 47).
Table 47. Comparison of the Labor costs ($/hour) in the Textile Industry
1990 1991 1993 1994 1996 1998

Germany 16.46 16.96 20.50 20.77 21.94 21.48
Italy 16.13 17.31 16.20 15.65 16.65 15.81
U.S.A. 10.02 10.33 11.61 11.89 12.26 12.97
Greece 5.85 5.75 7.13 7.68 8.92 7.99
Taiwan 4.56 5.00 5.76 5.98 6.38 5.85
Hong Kong 3.05 3.39 3.85 4.40 4.90 5.65
Turkey 1.82 3.12 4.44 2.31 2.02 2.48
Morocco 1.28 1.37 1.47 1.54 1.92 1.89
Tunisia 2.82 2.82 2.97 2.30 1.89 1.76
China 0.37 0.34 0.36 0.48 0.58 0.62
India 0.72 0.55 0.56 0.58 0.56 0.60
Pakistan 0.39 0.38 0.44 0.45 0.43 0.40
Indonesia 0.25 0.28 0.43 0.46 0.52 0.24
Source: Internationalisation of European Textiles and Clothing Production/Textiles Intelligence, Werner [17]
Although the labor cost in Turkey is lower than the labor costs in countries like
Germany, Italy, USA, Taiwan and Hong Kong, it is more than four times higher than the
costs in China and India, and higher than the costs in Morocco and Tunisia which have
similar proximity to Europe, Turkey’s largest market. As a result of increase in labor costs,
some companies are shifting the production to areas with lower labor costs in Turkey. A
similar research on wages in the apparel sector is not available.
The electricity prices in Turkey are also higher than its competitors (Table 48). In
addition to the cost of electricity, power cuts that are becoming more frequent as a result of
insufficient supply affect the industry. In order to tackle this problem, integrated plants
have started to build their own power sources while small- to medium-size companies are
still exposed to production loss. The government offers 25 to 50% discount in electricity
prices in the Eastern and Southeastern parts of Turkey to attract investments to the region.
Table 48. Comparison of Industrial Electricity Prices ($/kwh)
1994 1995 1996 1997

Japan 0.172 0.185 0.157 0.146
Switzerland 0.106 0.125 0.120 0.102
Portugal 0.116 0.122 0.112 0.097
Italy 0.091 0.093 0.101 0.094
Austria 0.072 0.081 0.081 0.081
Turkey 0.077 0.076 0.085 0.077
Germany 0.089 0.100 0.086 0.072
England 0.067 0.068 0.065 0.065
Denmark 0.063 0.069 0.073 0.064
Spain 0.078 0.081 0.080 0.064
Ireland 0.061 0.066 0.066 0.063
Netherlands 0.065 0.075 0.071 0.063
Belgium 0.059 0.068 0.065 0.055
Finland 0.052 0.063 0.062 0.055
Hungary 0.046 0.045 0.048 0.054
Greece 0.055 0.062 0.059 0.053
Czech Republic 0.056 0.061 0.059 0.052
France 0.053 0.060 0.057 0.049
Mexico 0.047 0.031 0.038 0.048
U.S.A. 0.047 0.047 0.046 0.044
Korea 0.068 0.072 0.068 0.040
Poland 0.035 0.040 0.040 0.036
Sweden 0.036 0.039 0.045 0.034
Source: OECD, Energy prices and Taxes, 1st quarter 1999 [17]
The International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) conducts a biennial study
to compare the production costs for different production processes in different countries.
The 1998 study compared the production costs in Indonesia, India, Turkey, Brazil, S.
Korea, USA, and Italy. The comparison considers labor costs, electricity costs, costs
related to construction, machines, operation time of factories, cost of financing, cost of
cotton, etc (Table 49). By using these parameters, the study provides a production cost
index for each country for the cases the raw material cost is included and excluded (Table
50). The study reveals that although most of the recent investments were made in
purchasing open-end machinery, the production costs for this type of production are among
the highest in the group.

Table 49. Cost Structure in Different Countries
Indonesia India Turkey Brazil S.Korea USA Italy

Master workman cost 1.17 1.09 3.85 7.86 8.14 14.05 22.06
($/hr)
Skilled-labor cost 0.48 0.79 2.31 4.02 5.24 11.63 19.95
($/hr)
Labor-cost 0.30 0.71 1.62 2.89 3.53 9.83 19.44
($/hr)
Electricity 5.65 9.92 7.00 5.70 5.33 5.00 8.02
(cent/kWh)
Cost of building 97 141 132 524 533 700 595
construction ($/m2)
Building depreciation 20 30 24 30 40 32 30
time (year)
Machine depreciation 9 10 7 10 8 7 8
time (year)
Annual operation 8500 8420 7100 7500 8280 7900 7600
time of a factory
(hour)
Custom fees, etc. 20 0 3 21 5 5 0
(%)
Cost of financing 17.0 18.0 9 13 12.0 8.3 11.5
(%)
Cotton price 1.82 1.44 1.83 1.80 1.79 1.59 1.75
($/kg)
Source: ITMF International Production Cost Comparison Report (1998)
Table 50. Comparison of Production Costs (Index: Italy=100)

Type of Raw Indonesia India Turkey Brazil S.Korea USA Italy
production material
Ring yarn Not inc. 72 72 76 77 74 80 100
Included 85 76 88 99 86 85 100
Open-end Not inc. 91 91 96 87 84 84 100
yarn Included 98 87 100 95 93 87 100
Weaving Not inc. 47 59 55 67 68 74 100
Included 70 69 74 79 78 80 100
(Ring)
Included 74 74 79 82 81 81 100
(open-end)
Knitting Not inc. 47 47 52 60 59 75 100
Included 81 72 83 84 82 83 100
(Ring)
Included 91 81 94 100 89 86 100
(open-end)
Source: ITMF International Production Cost Comparison Report (1998)
By one estimate, in Turkey’s apparel industry, the costs of fabrics and other raw
material inputs account for 60% of a small- to medium-sized producer’s revenues while the
labor cost is 20% of the revenue, water, electricity and heat is 6%, transportation is 5% and
the remaining 9% is overhead, interest, and other costs [7]. However, in Turkish textile
industry, the cost of raw materials, mostly cotton yarn, constitute 64% of the total costs,
the direct labor costs and the energy costs represent 17% and 8% of the remaining costs
respectively [19].
The textile and apparel industry relies heavily on bank loans to finance its operations.
Especially, the high investment in machinery around 1995 was made by using short-term
loans, which brought an extra burden on the companies in the following years. The
industry is thus very vulnerable to an increase in interest rates. As a result of investments

with high finance costs, the average current liability/total assets ratio in the apparel
industry increased from 61% to 69% and the share of interest expenses in net sales increased
from 4.7% to 7.4% from 1992 to 1995 [17].
7.2. Productivity
Analyzing the productivity of the Turkish textile and apparel industry is instrumental
to assess its competitiveness. Table 51 reports the results of a UNIDO study on the value
added, value added per employee and wage rates for textile, apparel industry and for total
manufacturing in United States, Turkey, China, and Mexico. The wages and salaries per
employee in Turkey and in Mexico are quite close to each other. As the table shows, the
value added per employee in Turkish textile industry is very close to the one in Mexico and
higher than in China. However, the value added per employee in the US textile industry is
almost three times higher than the value added per employee in Turkish textile industry.
In the apparel industry, the value added per employee in Turkey is almost twice of the one
in Mexico.
Note that, this is a very simplistic comparison of value-added per employees in these
countries. Either because of some sort of demand and supply shocks in the particular years
or by a mere speculative bubble in foreign exchange rate markets the values may be under-
or over-estimated
Furthermore, the ratio of real value added per employee is a simple, non-parametric
measure of productivity. However, since it measures the contribution of a single factor, it
cannot evaluate the effects of other factors such as technical efficiency and capital
accumulation on the productivity
Filiztekin (2000) presents a thorough study of the dynamics in Turkish manufacturing

industry before and after the liberization of the economy. He measures labor productivity
defined as the ratio of real value added to labor input and total factor productivity defined
as the residual after the contribution of accumulation of all factors is removed from output
growth, for each sector. He reports that there is an improvement in the productivity
performance of Turkish manufacturing industry after the economy is opened to free trade
and productivity growth accounts for nearly 50% of value added growth. The analysis,
summarized in Table [52], shows that the textile and apparel industry sustained a high
value-added growth rate during 1980-1996. The employment in the apparel industry
increased substantially while the increase in the textile industry was relatively low during
the same period. In the same period, the labor productivity and total factor productivity in
textile and apparel industry grew around 5% and 3.5% per year respectively. Although this
is a significant growth rate, it is lower than the average productivity growth rate of all
manufacturing for the same period. As a result of increase in real wages after 1988, the
firms increased their efficiency and productivity of existing inputs through substitution of
capital for labor.

Table 51. Value Added, Labor Productivity and Wage Rates (at current prices, in US$) by
Manufacturing Branch
United States
Value Added Value Added Wages and Salaries
(million US$) per employee per employee
Branch (ISIC)
1985 (1) 1999*(1) 1985 1999* 1985 1999*
TOTAL MANUFACTURING(300) 996440 2537055 57188 145344 22681 45368
Textiles(321) 26910 48673 32074 68332 15221 27917
Wearing apparel, except footwear(322) 22150 27058 24972 52560 11116 20271
Turkey
Branch (ISIC) (million US$) per employee per employee
1985 (2) 1998*(2) 1985 1998* 1985 1998*
Textiles(321) 1289 4179 7392 16488 2122 4644
China
Branch (ISIC)
1985 (3) 1998 (3) 1985 1998 1985
TOTAL MANUFACTURING(300) 78389 182191 2636 3659 384 ...
Textiles(321) 8588 12288 2031 2126 345 ...
Wearing apparel, except footwear(322) 1717a/ 5821a/ 10279 a/ 2750 a/ 357a/
a/ 322 includes 324 (Footwear)
Mexico
Branch (ISIC)
1985 (2) 1999*(2) 1985 1999* 1985 1999*
Textiles(321) 757 787 9836 20462 3261 6263
Source: Based on data supplied by OECD with estimates by the Statistics and Information Networks Branch, UNIDO.
Note: (1) = Factor values (2) = Producer’s prices (3) = Unspecified valuation, Note: An asterisk (*) next to year denotes
provisional figures estimated by UNIDO.
Table 52. Annual Growth Rates During 1980-1996

Textiles Clothing All Manufacturing
(incl. Footwear)
Real Value Added 7.47 18.86 9.55
Employment 2.86 13.90 3.45
Labor Productivity 4.60 4.96 6.10
Total Factor Productivity 3.40 3.61 4.59
Source: “Openness and Productivity Growth in Turkish Manufacturing” [5]
7.3. Lead Times and Delivery Performance
One of the advantages of Turkey is its geographical location, as a country located
between Europe and Asia, it is close to the European market as well as the Middle East,
and newly developing markets in the former Soviet Republics. Figure 3 depicts the
geographical location of Turkey.
Figure 3. Geographical location of Turkey.
Proximity to Europe is a major advantage over the competitors in the Far East in
the European Market. Truck transportation is the main mode of transportation since the
railways are not well developed and air transportation is quite costly. The transportation
companies are quite developed and provide satisfactory logistics services. It takes 4 days,
on the average, for a truck to travel from Istanbul to Germany, that is the largest market
for Turkish apparels.

A recent study compares the delivery times, including the transportation and
manufacturing times, to the European Union [7]. The study shows that Turkey still has an
advantage over the new low-cost competitors in Eastern Europe due to shorter
manufacturing lead times.

14
12 Transportation
10 Manufacturing
8
weeks
6
4
2
0
China
Japan
Turkey
Europe
Eastern
Southeast
Europe
Asia
Figure 4. Comparative Delivery Times to the European Union.
Another study shows a similar conclusion for the advantage of Turkish apparel
exporters in the European market over the competitors in the Far East, but not over the
competitors in the Eastern Europe and Northwest Africa (Table 53) .

Table 53. Comparative Lead Times in the European Market
Source First order Repeat Order

Eastern Europe, Maghreb, 3-6 weeks 3-6 weeks
Turkey, Greece
Other EC 2-4 weeks 2-4 weeks
China 6-7 months 3 months
Other Far East 4-5 months 3-5 months
Source: Textile Asia [18].
Marine transportation is also available from some authorized and equipped harbors.
However, truck transportation is preferred over marine transportation for the European
destinations due to its flexibility, availability, cost, and ease of arrangements. However, for
the United States, marine transportation is the preferred mode of transportation. On the
average, it takes 16 days for a ship to deliver to the United States. As a result of increasing
exports to the US market, a direct ship service to the United States has started recently. It
takes 10 days to deliver by using this service.
Table 54 gives the delivery times and delivery costs to the largest markets of Turkey
for different modes of transportation. This table is constructed by utilizing the data
gathered from major international transportation companies working in Turkey.
Table 54 . Comparative Delivery Time & Delivery Cots
Marine Transportation (Door to Door) Truck Transportation

Delivery Time Delivery Cost Delivery Time
Delivery Points Delivery Cost
(Day) (40 Ft. Container) (Day)
Italy 8-10 2500 $ 5 5500 DM
England 15 1000 Pound 8-10 9000 DM
Germany 15-16 3000-4000 DM 6 6500 DM
USA 16 2500-3000 $
France (North) 20 3000-4000 DM 8 6500 DM
France (South) 12 3000-4000 DM
Belgium 15-16 3000-4000 DM 6 6500 DM
Spain 10-14 2000-2500 $ 10-12 8500-9000 DM
Denmark 15-16 3000-4000 DM 6 7300 DM
Holland 15-16 3000-4000 DM 6 6500 DM
Sweden 20-25 4000-5000 DM 10-14 5800-9000 DM
Finland 20-25 4000-5000 DM 10-14 8500-9000 DM
Norway 20-25 4000-5000 DM 10-14 5800-9000 DM
Size of 40 feet. Container: Length = 40 feet, Height & Wide = 8 feet
Air Transportation is available within one-day delivery time to entire Europe and USA. Per kg. cost of delivery up to 3
tons is 1$ - 1.2$ for Europe and 2 $ for USA.
The data are obtained from; Ber-Ben Transp. Co., Black & Sea Transp. Co., Balnak Transp. Co.
7.4. Flexibility and Quality
There is no thorough study on the flexibility and quality of the Turkish textile and
apparel industry. Especially, since the apparel industry is composed of thousands of small-
to medium size companies, orders of different sizes, from very small to very large, can easily
be accommodated by contracting some of the work outside or by adjusting the work hours
when it is needed. Existing of a competitive textile industry also allows the fabric
producers to adopt new models within a short time period and feed the apparel industry.
It can be argued that as one of the major contractors of world brands, the textile and
apparel industry accumulated knowledge and experience to produce quality products.
Furthermore stringent end-product quality standards of the buyers and also the
requirements of European Union on process quality, e.g., ISO 9000 standard, had a positive
impact on the quality of the products produced. Being aware of this positive correlation,
the number of textile & apparel firms acquiring ISO 9000 standards in year 1997 shows a
three fold increase than that of year 1996. The upward trend continued in 1998 and
stabilized to nearly 50 firms per year in 1999 and 2000. Figure 5 depicts the number of
textile and apparel firms that received ISO 9000 certification during 1991-2000.
Nearly 8 % of all the firms that have acquired ISO standards are textile and/or
apparel firms. Among the 74 textile or apparel firms listed in the Fortune 500 list of
Turkey, 29 own ISO standards. Table 55 shows the percentage of the number of textile
and apparel firms that received ISO 9001 and 9002 certifications in the group of companies
in all industries with the same certification.
Table 55. Comparative ISO standards acquisition
ISO 9001 ISO 9002

Textile and/or Apparel 67 161
Total 831 1994
Percent %8,06 %8,07
ISO 9001 category contains: ISO 9001,TS EN ISO 9001,ISO, ISO 9001:2000
ISO 9002 category contains: ISO 9002,DIN EN ISO 9002, ISO 9002/EMAS/BS7750, TS EN ISO 9002
60
50
Number of Firms
40
30
20
10
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Year
Figure 5. Number of Textile & Apparel Firms Obtaining ISO Standards
Continuing export-oriented production also increased the source of skillful workers.
However, the supply of white-collar employees including qualified managers, engineers,

designers, etc. is still limited.
In addition, the production in Turkey complies with internationally accepted

ecological standards and does not use harmful materials in dyeing. These standards are
regulated by laws that are in accordance with the ones in the European Union.
Furthermore Turkey meets social audit requirements.
7. Assessment of Competitiveness of T
Turkish
urkish Textile and Apparel Industry
Considering the contribution of the textile and apparel industry to the Turkish
economy, sustaining and increasing the competitiveness of Turkish textile and apparel
industry is of vital importance for Turkey.
The advantages of the Turkish textile and apparel industry include high production
capacity, availability of raw materials, experience and knowledge in the industry, short
lead-times, quality production, fair costs, and flexibility in volume, time, and variety of
products. Furthermore, the Customs Union agreement provides access to the European
markets without quota restrictions.

In addition to being a major cotton and wool producer, Turkey has the advantage of
having both textiles and also apparel industry that are globally competitive. Considering
the whole supply chain from fiber to textiles, apparel, and retail, this coverage is an
important asset compared to those countries that do not have such an exposure. For
example, as the main apparel supplier of the United States, Mexico imports cotton from the
United States. Similarly, the low cost competitors of Turkey in the European market such
as the Eastern European and Northwest African countries actually import the textiles to be
used in apparel from Turkey.
However, the missing link in the whole supply chain, namely, retailing is where the
most of the value generated. For example, consider a Victoria`s Secret Stretch Cotton
Lingerie that is sold for $25 in USA but produced in Turkey. Figure 6 below depicts the
allocation of the money paid for this lingerie in the supply chain from the cotton, yarn,
fabric producer and the ready wear supplier in Turkey, to the brokerage, distributor, and
retailer in USA [19]. As the figure shows the most of the value in the chain is captured by
the latter part of the chain, i.e., the USA retailer/contractor/brokerage captures 71.6% of
the money paid by the customer while the remaining 28.4% is shared among the cotton,
yarn, fabric, and apparel producers in Turkey. Clearly, there are opportunities for the
industry to expand the exposure in the chain by better coordination and integration.
Retailer $11.3
Distributor $6.3
Brokerage $0.3
USA
Ready Wear $1.6
Turkey
Fabric Producer $1.5
Yarn Producer $1.4
Cotton Producer $2.6
$0 $5 $10 $15 $20 $25
Figure 6. Allocation of the money paid by a customer in the supply chain of an apparel
product.
As the previous section shows Turkish textile and apparel industry is losing its cost
competitiveness. Namely, there are now competitors with cheaper labor costs, cheaper
cotton, and cheaper electricity prices. Given those, it is not viable for Turkey to compete
on price alone for basic items. Similarly the lead-time advantage can be matched in the
European Market by the countries in Eastern Europe and Northwest Africa.
The industry has realized the need to compete with other features in addition to the
cost. Service quality and due-date performance have been considered as very important to
compete in the markets. Furthermore, some companies are following the route to expand
the supply chain exposure to retailing, especially, by branding. Given the textile
infrastructure, another possible way is to develop specialized products and compete in the
markets by differentiation. This route requires substantial investment in research and
development. Until now, the research and development has been neglected in the industry.
The total research and development expenditures of the companies in textile and apparel
industry was around $2.9 million in 1996 while during the same year the total exports
reached $8.9 billion.

Removal of all the quotas set by the Multi Fiber Agreement according to General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade by January 1, 2005 between the countries of WTO will
introduce new opportunities and threats for the industry. Since, there are no quotas for the
largest market of Turkey, i.e., the European Union, these opportunities and challenges will
involve the trade with the United States. Since the Turkish exporters are negatively
affected by the stagnation of the European market in recent years, the United States is now
seen as the major destination for further growth.
Acknowledgement
This research is conducted at the Harvard Center for Textile and Apparel Research. The
author thanks J.T.Dunlop and F.H. Abernathy, J.H. Hammond, D.Weil, for their valuable
comments and Burcu Batur and Gökhan Özçelik for their research assistance.
References
[1]. Dunya Newspaper Special Issue: The Turkish Economy at the 75th Year of Republic
(1998)
[2]. Evaluation of the First Four Months Performance of the Turkish Clothing Industry
2000, Turkish Clothing Manufacturers Association.
[3]. Export Performance Evaluation of Turkish Apparel and Garments Industry in 1999
(in Turkish), by Turkant, B. and Parilti, H., Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters
Association.
[4]. Export Performance Evaluation of Turkish Textile Industry in 1999, by Parilti, H.

and Turkant, B. (2000), (in Turkish), Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters
Association.
[5]. Filiztekin, A. (2000), “Openness and Productivity Growth in Turkish Manufacturing”,

Sabanci University Working Paper.
[6]. IBS - Doing Business in Turkey - (4.6) Textiles and Leatherware (April 20, 2000, IBS)
[7]. “International Competitiveness: Turkey and its Garment Industry,” by Ghemawat, P.

and Baird, B. (1998), Harvard Business School Case (N9-799-033).
[8]. Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters Association (ITKIB) Statistics

http://www.itkib.org.tr/res800/Istatistik/IhrSayfa.htm
[9]. ITMF International Textile Machinery Shipment Statistics (20/1997)
[10]. ITMF International Production Cost Comparison Report (1998)
[11]. Prime Ministry State Planning Organization Textile Report (1998)
[12]. STAT-USA on the Internet, US Department of Commerce (http://www.stat-

usa.org/
[13]. ‘The Clothing Industry in Turkey,” by Bodgener, J. (1997), Textiles Outlook

International, Amy 1997, Textiles Intelligence.
[14]. The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited, EIU Country Report: Turkey (July 2000)
[15]. The European Textile and Apparel Organisation (EURATEX) Statistics

http://www.euratex.org/statistics.html
[16]. The Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade, The Republic of Turkey, Prime Ministry
Report (2000)
[17]. Turkish Textile and Apparel Sector in 1990s, by Turkant, B., (1998), (in Turkish),
Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters Association.
[18]. “Turkey’s Clothing Industry Observed,” by Sung, K. (1994), Textile Asia, August,
pp. 10-15.
[19]. ‘Turkey`s Textiles and Readywear: A New Age on Competition’, by Kornosor, A. S.

(2000), Competitive Advantage of Turkey project: Textile and Apparel Cluster
Report.
[20]. Turkiye Sinai Kalkinma Bankasi Pamuklu Tekstil Raporu (1997)
[21]. US Customs Service Textile Status Report, 31.12.1999

http://www.customs.gov/quotas/1999/trtxtrpt.htm

gs06 PDF

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Originaltitel

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

gs06 PDF

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Harvard Center for Textile & Apparel Research

Overview of the Turkish Textile and Apparel Industry

Last revision: December 2001

Graduate School of Business, Koç University

Harvard Center for Textile and Apparel Research

Table of Contents ................................................................................................................. 2

2. Imports and Exports....................................................................................................... 11

2.2. Product Mix of Turkish Textile and Apparel Exports .............................................. 18

3. Production Capacity and Utilization .............................................................................. 23

5.1. Cotton Textiles...................................................................................................... 26

5.3. Man-made Textiles ................................................................................................ 29

5. Industry Structure .......................................................................................................... 33

7.1. Cost Structure .......................................................................................................... 38

7.3. Lead Times and Delivery Performance ..................................................................... 44

7. Assessment of Competitiveness of Turkish Textile and Apparel Industry ...................... 49

Table 3. World’s Largest Textile Exporters (1998) 12

Table 4. World’s Largest Apparel Exporters (1998) 12

Table 5. European Union’s Top Five Textile and Apparel Suppliers 13

Table 6. Turkey’s Apparel and Textile Exports 13

Table 7. Turkey’s Apparel and Textile Imports 14

Table 8. Regional Export Destinations for Turkey’s Textile Exports 15

Table 9. Regional Export Destinations for Turkey’s Apparel Exports 15

Table 10. Largest Markets for Turkey’s Textile Exports 16

Table 11. Largest Markets for Turkey’s Apparel Exports 17

Table 12. Turkey’s Largest Textile Suppliers 17

Table 13. Turkey’s Largest Apparel Suppliers 18

Table 19. Turkish Apparel Exports to USA in Quota-Restricted Categories 22

Table 25. Cotton Production, Consumption, Import and Export in Turkey 27

Table 26. Cotton Yarn Production, Demand, Import and Export 27

Table 28. Wool Production, Consumption, Import and Export in Turkey 28

Table 30. Woolen Fabric Production, Demand, Import and Export 29

Table 32. Man-Made Fiber Export and Import 30

Table 34. Man-Made Yarn Export and Import 31

Table 36. Product Mix of Turkish Apparel Exports 32

Table 42. Index of Production Workers Hourly Wages in Manufacturing Industry

Table 43. Production Index of Manufacturing Industry 36

Table 44. Number of Foreign-Owned Firms in Textile and Apparel Industry 37

Table 46. Government Investment Incentives to the Textile/Apparel Industry 37

Table 48. Comparison of Industrial Electricity Prices ($/kwh) 39

Table 50. Comparison of Production Costs (Index: Italy=100) 41

Table 52. Annual Growth Rates During 1980-1996 44

Figure 2. Map of Turkey..................................................................................................... 33

Figure 4. Comparative Delivery Times to the European Union.......................................... 45

was only 2.96% in 1970.

fiber fabrics, and ready ware.

Table 1. Macroeconomic Indicators of Turkey

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

GDP at market prices 7,926 14,320 28,721 53,523 83,198

Figure 1. Turkish Textile and Apparel Exports 1970-1999

private sector is currently dominating the industry.

industry is currently facing a number of crucial challenges. The competitiveness of the

uncertainty for the industry’s future.

increase in investments without coordination created an overcapacity in the sector. In

80% in 1998 [17].

figures in Section 5. The industry structure is discussed in Section 6. Section 7 analyzes

Table 2. Relative price changes in textile and apparel.

Wholesale Price Index (1980=1)

32 321 322 p321/p322

2. Imports and Exports

output (Dunya, 1998).

Table 3. World’s Largest Textile Exporters (1999)

Table 4. World’s Largest Apparel Exporters (1999)

Value Share in World % of economy’s