As the nation marks one year after earthquakes hit Southern Turkey and Northern Syria, the last week has been a series of tributes to the 50,000 dead in the 11 provinces of Turkey that were declared disaster zones, including Malatya, Adiyaman and Kahramanmaraş.
The memory, however, is tempered by the efforts at rebuilding, fixing, providing shelter and getting production capacity back in order, with local manufacturers assisting in efforts to the area that accounts for more than 40 percent of the country’s textile exports.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who won another five year term last summer, begun his visit to the region last weekend—starting with the Hatay and Gaziantep provinces. He said that he is making good on his promise of rebuilding. Interior minister Ali Yerlikaya said the close to 40,000 buildings that were destroyed in the earthquake were being rebuilt, and the approximately 14 million people who were affected were being given relief.
Ramazan Kaya, president of the Turkish Clothing Manufacturers Association (TGSD), told Sourcing Journal that employment decreased by 40 percent and production by 50 percent over the past year. “The capacity utilization, which was 75 percent in 2022, dropped to 10 percent after the earthquake, and could only reach 40 percent as of the last quarter of 2023,” he said.
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This region, which is one of the strongholds of the apparel and textile industries, did not lose too much in terms of the total number of garment manufacturers which counted 1,366 at the end of 2022 and stands at roughly 1,300 today.
“The number of companies decreased the most in Malatya, Adıyaman and Hatay, while the the biggest export loss was in Kahramanmaraş, Hatay and Diyarbakır,” he said.
While the drop in the number of companies remained below 5 percent, employment decreased by 40 percent, from 143,000 to 90,000.
“We must continue to heal the wounds together by doing our best,” Kaya said. “At TGSD, we extended our helping hand to the region from the first day of the earthquake. We will continue our support until the citizens we host in our 310-container living center, which we opened last April, have permanent residences,” he said.
Turkey is the world’s sixth largest textile exporter, and the fourth largest apparel exporter.
According to industry data, shipments of textiles from Turkey are down 7.6 percent to an estimated $9.6 billion for the last calendar year.
In the nine-months from January to September apparel exports were down 4.5 percent, to $14.10 billion, from $14.77 billion for the January-to-September period in 2022.
Mustafa Gültepe, president of Türkiye Exporters Assembly (TIM) and Istanbul Apparel Exporters´ Association (IHKIB), said that “all of Turkey was united to heal the wounds of the earthquakes.”
“At TİM, with the contribution of our exporters associations, we have built temporary living centers consisting of approximately 1,500 containers and prefabricated houses in four provinces, 330 of which are in Malatya. Our focus is on restoring daily life, production and exports to their normal state. The key to normalization is to resume production and exports, which play a critical role,” he said.
“We have nearly 9,000 exporter companies in the earthquake zone. In our earthquake-affected provinces, we closed 2023 with a 12.6 percent decrease compared to the previous year,” said Mustafa Gültepe. “Despite this, we achieved over $19 billion in exports, which I consider a significant success. I believe that Malatya, an important production base, has greater potential and will achieve significant success in the coming years,” he said.
As of Jan. 1, the new net minimum wage went into effect, going up an additional 49 percent, to 17,002 Turkish lira ($556.35), from 11,402 Turkish lira ($373.10). The per month gross minimum wage has increased from 13,414 ($439.97) to 20,002.5 ($654.54)Turkish lira (at present exchange rates). While these increases appear generous, it must be noted that inflation in the country soared by as much as 70 percent last year.
Despite President Erdogan declaring over the weekend: “Our nation has successfully passed this painful and historical test by transforming this disaster of the century into the solidarity of the century. We ensured that those difficult days were left behind,” there is also a rising discontent.
Survivors and workers in the region said that the wait for housing is too long.
Kaya stressed the need for support from financial institutions and public regulations—while predicting a “recovery phase” in the second half of 2024.
“As in all our regions, various supports are needed for the recovery of our producers in the earthquake zone. First of all, difficulties in accessing finance and loans make it difficult for the wheels to turn. Adequate and appropriate conditions cannot be provided for export credits, which are one of the most important needs of the sector. In addition, companies in need are waiting for restructuring of their existing loan debts. In summary, support from financial institutions and remedial public regulations are needed for our region to get back on its feet. These regulations will make a significant contribution to the solution of the qualified employment problem that has been ongoing since the early stages of the earthquake,” he said.
While manufacturers have been stoic in general, and did note that global brands had been ”supportive” by not canceling orders, a report by the Turkish arm of Clean Clothes Campaign in January observed that both manufacturers and brands disregarded worker rights, with manufacturers scrambling to meet deadlines.
Discussions about the role global brands can play to help the situation are expected to continue over the next few months, even as the tragedy of death and injury from the region continues to haunt the country.