Turkey imports 1.7 bn. dollars worth of cotton annually

Cotton farming lots are down about 50 percent in the last decade.

Watching the pulse of home textile market in Turkey, TETSIAD, Turkish industrialists and businessmen association on the home textile industry, warns that cotton production in the country has been down remarkably for about 15 years and has negative consequences for the home textile industry in the country. Turkey produces only one third of its cotton needs and spends 1.7 billion dollars annually for cotton imports.

Yasar Kucukcalik, president of TETSIAD, says, “Turkey is one of the countries producing quality cotton. Average yield of the land is ranked at second place after Australia where GMO seeds are used on larger lands and at better conditions of irrigation were utilized. Despite the successes of our farmers, the incentives provided by the ministry of food, agriculture and livestock we are facing a threat of diminishing farming of cotton. The issue is an important one for the future of our industry.

There is need for more support for domestic textile companies who use domestically produced cotton and for the development of cotton quality produced in the country. Using cotton as 60 percent of its inputs, our industry has an important share in Turkish economy, as well. Support for more cotton production in the country means to improve our position in world textile markets. In 2002, 850 thousand tons of cotton has been produced, while in 2015 the volume of production set back to 550 thousand tons. In terms of productivity, quality and product varieties our land has many advantages for farming. With intelligent choices the average value added through agriculture can be improved substantially. Our target for mid term is to increase the production of cotton up to 2 billion tons, and by 2023 we have to aim to produce 4 million tons of cotton annually.”