Carpets Account for 25 Percent of The Overall Exports : GTO

Carpets account for 25 percent of the overall exports from the Turkish city of Gaziantep, said the president of Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce (GTO) Eyup Bartik during a meeting organized to honor the firms operating in the carpet industry of the city.

The GTO official said that an assessment of the recently held International Middle East Carpets Fair in Istanbul showed that the Turkish city’s carpet industry is increasingly gaining importance in international markets and each year number of exhibitors from the city participating in the fair is also increasing, reports Cihan News Agency.

According to the GTO assessment, over 13,816 foreign and 10,241 domestic professionals operating in the carpet industry partook in the international event, which brought together leading companies from the sector, including from Gaziantep under one roof, he added.

The GTO president said the carpet industry of the city has the potential to develop further and it could be achieved with newer and more innovative products, with the help of research and development, in order to compete in international markets.

Mr. Bartik said the industry expects to achieve the export target of carpets worth US$ 5.5 billion by 2023, and in order to do so the Gaziantep carpet sector needs to overcome certain shortcomings and problems that it is currently facing, especially skilled personnel shortage.

The Turkish city of Gaziantep is the main carpet production center in the country, with close to 90 percent of the overall carpets in Turkey being manufactured in the city.