Earthquake impacts on China-Turkey nylon import and export

Turkey, as a newly industrialized country, the textile industry is an important traditional industry, with close international trade relationship with China. CCFGroup is also very concerned about the follow-up impact of the tragic earthquake on Feb 6. 

Turkey's main textile production areas are distributed in the west and south-central regions (circled in the picture), in which the focal area Kahramanmarashi province is adjacent to the major textile province of Gaziantep, and the number of local textile companies accounts for about 6% of Turkey. The strong earthquake certainly caused impact on the whole textile industry in the country.

This article will mainly analyze the possible impact of the earthquake on the local nylon industry. After investigating several factories and traders involved in the Turkish textile industry, we may conservatively assume that the impact of the earthquake on the local nylon-related textile industry was relatively limited. 

First, in terms of industrial structure, Turkey is a country that imports textile raw materials for weaving and processing, so those involved in nylon are mainly downstream textile and apparel enterprises, while most of the areas affected by the earthquake are dominated by agriculture, and the proportion of the textile industry is not high, so the direct impact is limited. 

Second, there are not many industrial-grade nylon fields in Turkey. Nylon industrial filament and tire cord fabric account for a relatively small proportion in Turkey. 

However, in the medium to long term, the Turkish economy needs a long process of recovery. As a big exporter of China's textile raw materials and an important link between Belt and Road Initiative and Eurasia, Turkey will have an impact on China's textile industry to a certain extent. Turkey's textile industry is quite developed. 

Turkey's textile exports accounted for 4.28% of the world's textile exports in 2021, ranking third in the world, second only to China and India, while apparel exports accounted for 3.41% of the world's total, ranking sixth in the world.

In import and export data, Turkey and China are also closely linked in textile raw materials, and the number and proportion of nylon chips and civilian filaments exported from China to Turkey are increasing year by year. 

In 2022, Turkey imported 11000 tons of nylon 6 chips, accounting for 2.9 percent, and more than 27000 tons of nylon textile filaments, accounting for 14.1 percent, and the growth rate was stable. 

But trade with Turkey has not been smooth in the past two years. In 2022, the US Fed raised interest rates, which led to the devaluation of local currency and serious inflation. Turkey's inflation rate reached 85% in October, the highest in decades. This was a huge blow to Turkey, which was a huge hurt on the nation deeply relying on imported textile raw materials. Thus its import from China slowed down. Facing such a strong earthquake, the lives and property of the Turkish people have been severely damaged, and the long process of economic recovery after the earthquake will still be a major test for the local textile industry. CCFGroup will continue to pay attention to the local situation and analyze the follow-up industrial impact for readers.