In the first 11 months of this year, Turkey exported leather goods worth $1.6 billion and sold footwear to 186 countries and other leather products to 202 nations. The export target of $2 billion can be surpassed in 2020 if the sector is revived a little more, Istanbul Leather and Leather Products Exporters Association (IDMIB) chairman Mustafa Senocak said. Senocak pointed to a slight increase in export figures compared to last year despite the protectionist measures in global trade and the shrinking trade volume. Highlighting the increase in saddlery and footwear exports and the decrease in semi-finished products, leather and fur apparel, Senocak said the decrease in leather apparel was due to the decline in sales to Russia. The IDMIB chairman stressed that there was no decrease in exports to other countries, but that leather apparel sales increased in European Union countries, the United States and the Far East, according to a report in a Turkish English-language daily. A Turkish delegation had just returned from South Korea and the aim is to treble exports to that market, he said. Footwear makes up $875 million of exports, followed by semi-finished and finished products with $240 million, leather and fur apparel with $223 million and leather goods with $212 million.
