The White Goods Industrialists Association of Turkey (TÜRKBESD) has at a press conference given its assessment of developments in Turkey’s white goods sector in the first quarter of 2021, while outlining the problems experienced due to the customs duty on flat steel in Turkey.
Fatih Özkadı, TÜRKBESD board member, has stated that the sector wants the customs duties on flat steel to be terminated. Saying that regulations are needed to increase the competitive advantage of the country in the flat steel market, Mr. Özkadı stated that producers in the EU can import flat steel without customs duties, and that the custom duties applied on imports of flat steel in Turkey increase costs. “Instead of safeguard measures, the necessary investment support should be provided for local flat steel producers to produce more diverse and high quality products. Thus, foreign dependency will decrease,” he said.
Commenting on the general global economic situation, Turkey’s economy and the impacts on the sector, TÜRKBESD chairman Can Dincer stated that the Paris Agreement should be given priority to maintain the global competitiveness of Turkey’s white goods sector and to increase Turkey’s exports.
According to the chairman, in the first quarter of the current year domestic sales and exports of member producers of TÜRKBESD increased by 40 percent and 26 percent year on year, respectively. According to TÜRKBESD’s data, its member companies’ total sales of their six main products increased by 29 percent year on year to 8,521,513 units in the first quarter this year.