The Textile and Apparel Manufacturers of Korea Are Expecting a Boost in Exports to Turkey

The textile and apparel manufacturers of Korea are expecting a boost in exports to Turkey, as the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries is scheduled to take effect from May 1, 2013.
 
Korea and Turkey had started negotiations on a comprehensive FTA, including areas of trade in services and investments, back in March, 2010. Subsequently, after several rounds of negotiations, a FTA was signed by Korean Minister of Economy H.E. Taheo Bark and his Turkish Counterpart H.E. Zafer Çaglayan on 1 August 2012.
 
The Agreement on Trade in Goods, which is part of the FTA, foresees the elimination of customs duties on all industrial goods, including textiles and apparels, within maximum seven years.
 
In a conversation with fibre2fashion, manager of International Trade Team at Korea Federation of Textile Industries, Mr. Sengloo Joo said, “Our main textile and apparel exports to Turkey are synthetic filament fabrics and knitted fabrics and we are expecting 20-25 percent reduction in export duty to the country with FTA.”
 
“The implementation of FTA with Turkey will benefit the Korean textile and apparel sector as well, as these products cannot be replaced with the textile and clothing products from countries including China and Indonesia,” he informs.
 
With the coming into force of Korea-Turkey FTA, South Korea will benefit with zero customs duty on 65 percent of its products to Turkey and Turkey will benefit with zero customs duty on 80 percent of its products shipped to Korea.
 
Over a period of ten years, the two countries will gradually reduce the customs duties to zero on 90 percent of all their tariff lines.