Türkiye’s textile and raw materials sector closed 2025 with a strong performance, reaching $11.4 billion in exports. Together with the apparel industry, total exports climbed to $26 billion, delivering a net foreign currency inflow of $17 billion to the Turkish economy.
Speaking at a press conference, Ahmet Öksüz, President of the Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters’ Association (İTHİB), emphasized that Türkiye is competing at the highest level of global textile trade. He noted that eight of the world’s top 10 textile exporters are G20 members, with Türkiye sharing fifth place globally with Italy, each recording around $12 billion in textile exports.
Global Demand Remains Strong
Öksüz underlined that interest in textiles has not declined worldwide. China leads global textile exports with $141 billion, followed by India ($19 billion), the United States ($18 billion), and Germany ($13 billion). He added that the United States is currently the world’s largest textile investor with $3 billion in investments, while other G20 countries—including Russia, Brazil, Japan, the UK, and Austria—are also seeing strong growth in manufacturing exports, signaling resilient global demand.
Major Contribution to the Turkish Economy
Highlighting the sector’s economic impact, Öksüz said textiles and apparel rank third among Türkiye’s largest exporting sectors. With a $17 billion trade surplus, the two industries provide the highest net foreign currency contribution. Combined production value reached $77.2 billion in 2025—$44.8 billion from textiles and $32.4 billion from apparel—making them the largest manufacturing contributors.
Europe Leads Export Markets
In 2025, the European Union remained Türkiye’s largest market, accounting for $4.5 billion in exports, or 40.3% of the total. Exports to Africa reached $1.5 billion (13.6%), while shipments to former Eastern Bloc countries totaled $1.4 billion.
By country, Italy ranked first with $838 million, followed by the United States ($792 million) and Germany ($715 million).
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Record Growth in Egypt
Egypt stood out as the fastest-growing market. Öksüz said Turkish investments in Egypt have translated into higher exports, which rose 23% to a record $567 million in 2025, up from $344 million in 2023.
High Value-Added Exports
Türkiye continues to outperform global averages in value-added exports. While the national average export price stands at $1.59 per kilogram, textiles achieved $4.3/kg, and apparel reached $21.3/kg.
Imports, DİR Concerns, and Employment
After peaking at $12.7 billion in 2022, textile imports declined to $7.3 billion in the January–November 2025 period. However, Öksüz warned about the rising share of imports under the Inward Processing Regime (DİR), which increased from 19.5% in 2022 to 22.9% in 2025, reaching 44.1% in yarns and 65.5% in cotton yarns. Including EU and FTA partners, duty-free imports now approach 75%.
On employment, Öksüz said sectoral jobs fell from a peak of 1.25 million in August 2022 to 860,000, a 31% decline. Year-on-year employment dropped 9.3% in textiles and 12.1% in apparel, resulting in a combined decline of 10.9%.
Despite these challenges, Öksüz reaffirmed that Türkiye remains firmly positioned among the world’s leading textile producers, competing directly with the industry’s global heavyweights.
