TETSIAD Board held an online contact meeting on June 18 with New York Commercial Attaches of Turkey Mr. Ahmet Selçuk Nalbant and Mr.Iskender Balci. The meeting, which was also attended by Denizli Exporters Association Mr. Hüseyin Memisoglu ,started with the opening speech of TETSIAD President Mr. Hasan Hüseyin Bayram.
TETSIAD President Mr. Hasan Hüseyin Bayram, who started that they want to make preparations for the new period after the COVID-19 pandemic and to learn the latest devolopments in the US market as the home textile industry, said : ‘' As Turkey, we are the world's fourth-largest home textile exporter, after China, India and Pakistan. We are the biggest supplier in Europe. We are an important industry that creates added value for our country. The top five countries we export to are Germany, The USA, Bulgaria, The UK and Italy. While home textile imports of the US is 15.9 billion dollars, Turkey's export to the US is only 332 million dollars. China's export to the US is 9 billion dollars. ‘'
Sales of the home textile and furniture industry have increased by 90 percent in the USA
New York Commercial Attache of Turkey Mr. Ahmet Selçuk Nalbant, who stated that they observe that the recognition of Turkish towels and home textiles industry is the US market is good, shared general information about the recent developments in the Usa and what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic Mr. Nalbant stated that e-commerce figures and online merchandising activities are increasing rapidly and that there are discussions on marketing models where physical and online stores will be combined. Mr.Nalbant, who said that many retail businesses were closed in March and April, stated that there was an increase of 18 percent in retail sales in May while sales of home textiles and furniture increased by 90 percent. However , Mr. Nalbant, who said that the downward trend in these figures is continiuing compared to previus year,told : ‘' The USA has received a serious economic blow.It is predicted that consumption amounts cannot return to their previous performance before 6 years. Hometextile gives us hope. In our interviews, we have seen that the situation is better in the home textile industry.''
There was a decline in imports
New York Turkey Commercial Attache Mr. Iskender Balci,who stated that the US home textile import declined in the states which are their territories in the first 4 months of 2020, said that 9.4 percent of this import was from China,5.3 percent of this was from Turkey during this period. Mr. Nalci said :‘'The priority of the importers in the USA is to run process through the companies they trust. Their tendency to find new suppliers is low at this point. However policies will be followed in order to diversify the supply chain and reduce dependence on China in the coming period.''
While giving information about the priorities of exporting to the USA, they mentioned the importance of logistics and storage processes and told that the industry should continue its promotional activities and online advertisements can contribute to this activity. The meeting, in which TETSIAD President Mr. Hasan Hüseyin Bayram and DENIB President Mr. Hüseyin Memisoglu shared their experiences regarding the US market, ended after the questions of the members of the board of directors were answered.