Turkish jewelry exporters seeking new markets after Russia losses

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Turkish jewelry producers aim to increase their exports by 30 percent to $3.5 billion this year by focusing on new markets, after seeing decreases of around 15 percent in year-on-year exports in 2015 amid the loss of one of their key markets, Russia.  

"Russia and the Turkic republics have been our key markets, but Russian economic activities have ground to a halt since the Ukraine crisis. This has also negatively affected Russia's neighboring countries including the Turkic republics," said Jewelry Exporters Association (M?B) head Ayhan Güner, adding that the jet crisis between Turkey and Russia has worsened the situation. 

The sector's exports fell in the last three months of 2015 amid the crisis after Turkey shot down a Russian jet on the Syrian border and the huge refugee inflow, although the sector had shown a good performance in the first nine months of the year. 

According to M?B data, jewelry exports - excluding plate gold sales - fell by 14.6 percent to $2.65 billion in 2015 compared to the previous year, though exports increased by 9.77 percent on a weight basis to 3,500 tons. 

Güner said the main reason behind the drop in exports on a value basis was the plunge in the gold price. 

"While the gold price was around $50,000 per kilo two years ago, this figure has now slumped to around $32,000-33,000. If the gold price had not declined, our exports would have increased by 30 percent on a value basis," he said. 

The biggest decline was seen in the Russian market, which fell by around 71 percent in 2015 compared to the previous year. The sector also saw a fall in sales to Iran, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Hong Kong, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Belgium and Kazakhstan. 

 "We aim to boost our exports to $3...

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