CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK MAY CAUSE TO INCREASE COTTON PRODUCTION IN TURKEY...

The new coronavirus outbreak in China may lead global buyers to find new markets, especially in sectors such as textile, garments and steel, and Turkish businesses are one alternative. The outbreak, however, also may cause a decline in the country's exports to the Far East, such as natural stones of which China is the No. 1 buyer.

According to a report by Turkey's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, COVID-19 will cause a possible shrinking of China's textile and garment industry – for a country that is a huge exporter for global brands – and this may drive those brands toward Turkey, increasing the importance of cotton growing in the country.

The report by the ministry's Department for Agricultural Basins, which evaluated the effects of the new outbreak on the cotton sector, stressed that China had the biggest share in the overall fiber cotton imports during 2018 and 2019 which recorded nearly 9.3 million tons worldwide. Bangladesh, Vietnam, Pakistan and Turkey had followed China respectively, while some 9% of the cotton imports of the total world record were carried out by Turkey.

During the same period, the U.S. had the biggest share in the overall fiber cotton exports with 3.2 million tons and was followed by Brazil, India and Australia.

The report suggested that the expected shrinking in the garment and textile industry in China due to the coronavirus outbreak – which had already caused factories to be shut down, cities to be locked down and flights to be canceled along with its already-visible impacts on the world economy – will increase the textile demand from Turkey, adding the demand is expected to be met with domestically produced cotton.

It is expected that big European brands will return to Turkish companies especially for fast order products, it noted.

Burak Sertbaş, chairman of the Aegean Garment and Apparel Exporters' Association, who was quoted by Turkish daily Dünya, on the other hand, argued that although the order shifts will have positive effects, the effect on the figures will be limited.

It was noted in the ministry report that in relation with the developments, the prices of Turkish cotton is also expected to increase, along with an increase in the global cotton prices, which had saw a decline earlier.

The cotton cultivation areas in Turkey were 4.3 million decares in 2015 while it increased 12% in 2019, reaching 4.8 million decares. The total production also increased by 5% in 2019, reaching up to 2.2 million tons while it was 2.1 million tons in 2015. However, the average yield, which was 472 kilograms per decare in 2015, dropped to 460 kilograms last year.

The six provinces that met nearly 84% of Turkey's cotton production last year were Şanlıurfa, Aydın, Diyarbakır, Hatay, Adana and İzmir with 37%, 11%, 11%, 10%, 9% and 6% respectively.

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