Stating that exhibitions such as ITM and HIGHTEX bring the world textile/garment industry together in İstanbul, Hüseyin Memişoğlu, President of DENİB said: “International exhibitions such as ITM and HIGHTEX are important for Denizli, which is the locomotive of the sector. These exhibitions play an important role in the recovery of the sector.”
As ITM NEWS Newspaper, we interviewed Hüseyin Memişoğlu, President of DENİB. Memişoğlu talked about the contribution of ITM and HIGHTEX exhibitions to the sector, the operations of Denizli manufacturers, DENİB 2024 investment and project predictions, and made some sectoral evaluations.
The highlights of the interview are as follows: Hüseyin Memişoğlu stated that the Turkish textile sector was relatively recession in 2023 due to reasons such as earthquake and cost increase, and that important international exhibitions such as ITM and HIGHTEX played an important role in the revitalization of the sector: “As Denizli Exporters Association, we encourage and support the participation of companies in exhibitions. We are aware of the importance of exhibitions where products and services are presented to visitors and face to face contact is established with buyers in order to carry our export potential forward.”
Expressing that there is intense competition in the textile-garment sector, Memişoğlu said: “We attach great importance to faceto- face meetings in order not to break the communication with buyers. In this context, we consider exhibitions as the most efficient way of establishing business contacts, making effective promotion, getting to know the market and evaluating export opportunities.”
“Public and Private Sector Collaborations are Very Important for the Growth and Sustainability of Exhibitions”
Memişoğlu talked about the contributions of the ITM 2024 International Textile Machinery Exhibition, which will be held between June 4-8, to both the country and the sector. DENİB President evaluated that: “We attach importance to the fact that exhibitions bring people from different countries together and create cultural richness by providing the opportunity to communicate.
For this reason, the value of the exhibitions organized in our country is very great. As it is known, exhibitions contribute to many sectors from transportation to accommodation, from food and beverage to shopping, and thus to employment. In this context, I can consider exhibitions as commercial activities that recovery tourism. In terms of protecting employment, public and private sector collaborations are important for increasing the number of exhibitions organized in our country, expanding and sustaining existing exhibitions.”
“Our Companies from Deni̇zli̇ Will Show Intensive Attendance in ITM 2024 Exhibition”
Hüseyin Memişoğlu said that textile manufacturers in Denizli showed intense participation in ITM and HIGHTEX exhibitions. Memişoğlu added the following: “The exhibition participation rates of our companies operating in the textile-garment sector in Denizli are quite high. In the ITM and HIGHTEX exhibitions held in 2022, there were many exhibitors from our city. We also have attending companies from Denizli for ITM 2024 Exhibition. We will continue to offer our support to our members for exhibitors that allow face-to-face meetings with buyers.”
The way to increase export incomes in textiles is to develop smart textiles with high added value. In this context, technical textiles and nonwoven products are in a very important position. Stating that they are working on this issue, Memişoğlu emphasized that the technical textile market will develop thanks to the Technical Textile Transformation Project in Denizli. Memişoğlu, “There is a center established for technical textiles on an area of approximately 1000 m2 in the Organized Industrial Zone in Denizli.
With the co-financing of the European Union and the Republic of Turkey, the “Transformation to Technical Textiles in Denizli” project is being carried out, within the scope of the “Competitive Sectors Program” implemented by the Ministry of Industry and Technology. With this project, it is aimed to increase the competitiveness of SMEs operating in the textile sector by transforming the textile production industry in Denizli into technical textiles and to move them up in regional, national and global value chains. I can say that the culture of innovation is established in our city in order to realize exports in a value-added way. In this context, I believe that technical textiles will develop rapidly with the project I mentioned.”
Textile Sector Capacity Utilization Rate as of October 2023: %70.7
The Turkish textile and raw materials sector is one of the sectors that provides the largest added value to the economy with an export volume of over 30 billion dollars and a domestic market volume of nearly 50 billion dollars and plays a major role in closing the country’s current account deficit. Memişoğlu evaluated on how 2023 was for the textile companies in Denizli: “Turkey’s textile/ garment sector exports in 2022 increased by 4% compared to the previous year and amounted to 31.6 billion dollars. The garment industry accounted for 12.4% of Turkey’s total exports in 2022.
In 2022, while the unit price of Turkey’s exports was 1.37 dollars, it was 14.13 dollars in the garment sector and 4.52 dollars in the textile sector. The textile-garment sector, which accounts for 25% of industrial employment, is very important in terms of women’s employment. Most of the companies operating in this sector in our country have the certificates required by our main markets for sustainable production such as BCI, GOTS, OCS, GRS, RCS and OEKO-TEX. Regarding orders, it is necessary to emphasize that the Global Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) declined to 48.8 in October. This points to a long-term slowdown in new orders.
Turkey Manufacturing PMI was measured as 48.4 in October. In the January-October period of 2023, Denizli’s textile garment sector exported 1.2 billion dollars worth of exports with a decrease of 18.2% compared to the same period of the previous year. I can say that the decline in exports in our target markets is due to the fact that the textile-apparel sector is not the primary demand.
On an annual basis, the garment industry saw a decline of 11.7% and the textile industry a decline of 8.5%. As of October 2023, the capacity utilization rate of the garment sector was 76.4%, while the capacity utilization rate of the textile sector was 70.7%. In 2021, this value was 81.6% in garments and 80.5% in textiles. I would like to thank all exporters operating in our sector, which does not have a current account deficit and provides foreign currency inflow to our country.
Denizli Has 7% Share in Towel Exports Worldwide
Memişoğlu talked about Denizli’s contribution to Turkey’s economy with its foreign trade volume, especially in the field of textile, and the projects and targets of Denizli Exporters Association to increase this contribution: “Denizli’s share in our country’s textile-garment exports is around 4%.In 2022, textile-garment exports worth 1.7 billion dollars were made in our province. In the January-October period of 2023, the export figure from the sector was 1.2 billion dollars.
The countries that stand out in our exports from Denizli in the textilegarment sector are Germany, USA, Italy, The Netherlands and France. Our city stands out especially in towel exports. While 700 million dollars worth of towel exports were made nationwide in 2022, this value was realized as 483 million dollars with a share of 70% in our province. Denizli has a 7% share in towel exports worldwide. It is possible to encounter Denizli towels all over the world.
As Denizli Exporters Association, we continue our efforts to increase the quality and awareness of our towels with our “Turkish Towels” brand. We have 4 P&D projects for the textile-garment sector in our association. 3 of these are in the home textile sector: Denizli Home Textile Sector Overseas Marketing Team P&D project, and 1 in the outerwear sector: “Sustainability and Design in Denizli Outerwear Sector P&D project”.
Within the scope of these projects, we organize abroad marketing programs, organize bilateral business meetings with our project participant companies and foreign buyers, and carry out awareness activities with our training and consultancy activities. In 2023, as DENİB, we carried out approximately 20 international programs. I believe that these activities will reflect positively on our export figures.”
