The Turkish woodworking machinery industry, which closed 2023 with exports of 160 million dollars and set an export target of 180 million dollars for year 2024, achieved production of 61 million dollars, exports of 24 million 708 thousand dollars, imports of 13 million 645 thousand dollars and domestic sales of 50 million dollars in the first two months of the year.

AIMSAD published the Wood Processing Machinery Sector Report, which was compiled from TURKSTAT foreign trade data. According to the data in the report, production increased by 12.07 percent, exports increased by 13.47 percent, and domestic sales increased by 6.48 percent, while imports decreased by 4.19 percent, in the first two months of the year, compared to the same period of the previous year. In the period covered by the report, the ratio of exports to imports was 181 percent, while the foreign trade balance was at the level of 11 million dollars. In the first two months of 2023, the export-import coverage ratio was 153 percent and the foreign trade balance was 7.5 million dollars.

Algeria became the largest export market in February

The biggest export market of the Turkish woodworking machinery industry in February was Algeria, where furniture imports are prohibited. The sector sold a total of 1 million 805 thousand dollars of machinery to Algeria. While Bulgaria ranked second with 1 million 604 thousand dollars, the United Kingdom was the third important market with exports of 1 million 270 thousand dollars. The USA ranked fourth with exports of 1 million 230 thousand dollars. Russia, Kosovo, Morocco, Iraq, Romania and Albania were the other countries in the top 10 countries with the highest machinery exports during February.

24 million dollars of machinery export

According to the two-month data; Turkish woodworking machinery sector achieved a total export of 24 million 708 thousand dollars. During the said period, machines in the others group were exported the most with 7.5 million dollars. Sawing machines ranked second with 5 million 853 thousand dollars, while planing, milling or molding (by cutting) machines ranked third with 4 million dollars. With exports of 2 million 393 thousand dollars, machines carrying out different machine operations without tool changes between operations took the fourth place. The ranking of the machine groups exported in the first two months of the year was as follows; bending or assembling machines with 1 million 490 thousand TL, machining centers with 1 million 395 thousand dollars, drilling or mortising machines with 776 thousand dollars, grinding, sanding or polishing machines with 728 thousand dollars and Splitting, slicing or paring machines with 506 thousand dollars.

China ranked first in imports

Türkiye imported a total of 13 million 645 thousand dollars of machinery from different countries in the first two months of 2024. China was at the top of the import countries with 5 million 229 thousand dollars. Italy came second with 3 million 586 thousand dollars, Germany came third with 2 million 513 thousand dollars, and Finland came fourth with 1 million 343 thousand dollars. Poland, Hungary, Austria, Greece, Czech Republic and Denmark were the other countries from which Türkiye purchased machinery during February.

Imported machine groups

When we review the machine groups imported in February 2024, sawing machines ranked first with 3 million 664 thousand dollars. Machines carrying out different machine operations without tool changes between operations ranked second with 3 million 589 thousand dollars, while machines in the others group ranked third with 2 million 517 thousand dollars, and drilling or mortising machines came fourth with 1 million 267 thousand dollars. Other machine groups imported were as follows; Grinding, sanding or polishing machines; machining centres; planing, milling or molding (by cutting) machines, and splitting, slicing or paring machines.