The President of the Istanbul Leather and Leather Products Exporters’ Association (İDMİB), Güven Karaca, announced that the sector urgently expects support in four main areas. Karaca stated, “With the right financial, production, import, and employment policies, we believe we can break new export records again.”
In January–August 2024, the sector achieved exports worth $1.035 billion, while in the same period of 2025 exports fell by 4.7% to $986 million. Emphasizing that challenges can be overcome through public–private cooperation, Karaca called for urgent measures.
4-Point Support Demand
- Special low-interest financing with simplified collateral system
Karaca stressed that high interest rates weaken competitiveness, calling for the urgent introduction of special financing packages tailored to labor-intensive sectors. - “Trump-like” solutions on imports
The footwear industry, which generated a trade surplus of $1.4 billion between 2017–2022, posted a deficit of more than $1.1 billion in the last two years. Karaca argued for differentiated policies in raw material imports while urging restrictive measures on finished goods imports to strengthen competitiveness. - Policies to stimulate manufacturing
Highlighting a declining entrepreneurial appetite, Karaca called for dynamic policies to encourage investments, utilize idle capacities, and make Türkiye more competitive in foreign trade. - Human resources policies
Karaca warned that structural problems such as aging population, early retirement (EYT) regulations, and labor migration from manufacturing to services are leading to workforce shortages. He emphasized the need for medium- and long-term strategies to secure employment in labor-intensive sectors.
Güven Karaca concluded: “Labor-intensive sectors have borne the heaviest burden of inflation programs so far. Now, new support and policies are vital for the survival of our industries.”
