Turkey eyes trade boost as Erdogan heads to Japan

By Arife Yildiz Unal and Satuk Bugra Kutlugun

ANKARA

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will arrive in Japan on Wednesday for an official visit during which he will meet with Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss boosting bilateral trade relations.

A statement issued by the Turkish Presidential Office said Tuesday that during the three-day visit, Erdogan will attend a meeting held with the coordination of Japan and the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEIK) business organization.

The visit comes as trade between the countries, and investment by Japanese companies in Turkey, has experienced a dip in past years.

Nurettin Pekaruni, DEIK’s Japan-Turkey Business Forum chief, told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday that the trade volume between the countries stood at $3.6 billion as of the end of 2014 -- mostly in favor of Japan.

Turkey’s main exports include fish, pasta, tobacco and knit goods, and its imports cars and construction equipment, such as bulldozers, graders, diggers and excavators.

"While the trade volume between these two countries stood around $4.5 billion in 2011, it fell to $3.8 billion in 2013," Pekarun said. "The economic relations mainly rely on Japanese exports to Turkey."

So far in 2015, Turkey's exports to Japan stand at around $225 million, and its imports at $1.95 billion.

"By 2014, there were 183 Japanese companies operating in Turkey,” Pekarun said. “Japanese firms invested a total of $231 million in 2011 and only $33 million in 2012."

He added that the total Japanese investment had, however, surpassed the $1.4 billion mark since Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi firm began operating in Turkey in 2013 with $300 million.

The largest Japanese investors in Turkey include Bridgestone, Isuzu Motors, Toyota, Honda, Marubeni, Itochu, Mitsubishi and Mitsui & Sumitomo.

According to Turkey's official statistics agency TurkStat, Japanese firms invested $215 million in Turkey between January and July this year, resulting in a total of $1.7 billion since 2010.

Meanwhile, Turkey's exports to Japan have risen from $234 million to $375 million in the last ten years, marking a 60 percent increase.

Pekarun underlined that Turkish companies need to know their Japanese buyers well "if they want to be effective," and also "need to upgrade the production quality" to match Japanese standards.

"Companies that will be in Japanese market must know the Japanese quality standards,” he added. “They should know the demographical situation on Japan."

He listed dried fruits, vegetables, home textiles, automotive sub-industry, machinery parts, iron and steel products, jewelry, ceramics, and marble and glassware as possible areas for further trade cooperation between the countries.

Pekarun also referred to the October 2013 inauguration of Istanbul’s Marmaray – a railway tunnel underneath the Bosphorus Strait built by a Turkish-Japanese consortium – by Erdogan, then prime minister, and Abe.

"Future projects will also include Japanese companies, like in building the Izmit Gulf Bridge and the Sinop Nuclear Power Plant," he added.