Mediterranean Ready-Wear and Textile Exporters Association Chairman Tarık Bozbey said on Monday they expect to see a full recovery from the ongoing global economic crisis in 2010 in the ready-wear sector as the affects of the crisis continue to ease.

Bozbey stated that demand has been dropping throughout the world because of the recession in the US and European economies; however; he added that the severity of the crisis has started to decline. He noted that export levels have declined by 30 to 60 percent throughout the world but that this figure is between 15 and 30 percent for Turkey. The decrease in exports was greater in some regions of Turkey, while other regions enjoyed a relatively slighter drop, Bozbey noted, adding that the Mediterranean region is one of those lucky regions.

He asserted that recovery from the ongoing financial crisis has already started and that the current situation of businesses is better than in the first days of the economic crisis. “Energy consumption in Turkey declined by 20 percent [during the first days of the crisis], but now we are back at pre-crisis consumption levels of electricity, which means the severity of the crisis has begun to diminish and that production will increase again. Even though some problems still exist, I believe we will enter a period of growth in exports by mid 2010,” he said.

Drawing attention to the net contribution of ready-wear exports in the economy, Bozbey said: “Even though the Turkish automotive sector is ranked first in terms of exports, the imports in this sector are also the highest. Net value added by this sector to total exports is not as great as the net value added by sectors such as textiles, apparel and food.” He said exports were the highest in the apparel sector during the crisis.

Source: Today’s Zaman