Adil Pelister, Chairman of the Board of the Istanbul Chemicals and Chemical Products Exporters’ Association (IKMIB), made a written assessment of the 2021 growth data of the Turkish economy announced by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).
Pelister said in his assessment, “While the Turkish economy grew by 9.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021, it achieved a double-digit growth rate of 11 percent in the whole of 2021. We find it important and pleased that our country will achieve a strong growth in 2021, which is called the new normal after the pandemic. One of the most important factors in this growth is the export-based growth strategy. As a matter of fact, we, as the chemical industry, became the second industry that contributed the most to our country’s exports and thus its growth. We are proud of all our exporters because of this success of our chemical industry. The exports of our chemical industry, which plays a leading role in the growth of our country and plays a strategic role in the economy with its 16 sub-sectors, broke a record with 25.4 billion dollars in 2021. In 2021, our industry grew by about 40 percent. In the 9-month period of 2021, our Turkish chemical industry received a 0.76 percent share from the global chemical industry exports. Our export target for 2022 is to reach 28 billion dollars. On the other hand, the Russia-Ukraine crisis, which is also closely related to our country, continues to increase energy costs and commodity prices. As the chemical industry, which is 70% foreign-dependent in terms of raw materials, we follow these developments closely. We wish this and similar geopolitical tensions and crises in the world to end as soon as possible. As the chemical industry, we will continue to work harder, produce more and increase our exports with the awareness of our responsibility to increase the added value of our exports.”
