Dışyönder Chairman Dr. Hakan Çınar assessed the latest amendments made to the import regime and the additional customs duties increased for certain product groups, providing significant evaluations.
Stating that it is extremely important for Türkiye to protect its domestic production against unfair foreign competition, Çınar emphasized that customs duties alone should not be considered an industrialization policy.
Çınar said: “Türkiye must, of course, protect its domestic manufacturers. At a time when protectionism is rapidly increasing worldwide and countries are working to secure their own industries and strategic sectors, it is impossible for us to remain outside this trend. However, we must make a very important distinction here. Making imports more expensive is not the same as strengthening domestic production.”
“PROTECTION SHOULD NOT TURN INTO A COMFORT ZONE FOR MANUFACTURERS”
Expressing that additional customs duties provide domestic producers with a price advantage in the short term, Çınar pointed out that long-term protection policies without performance-based conditions may not resolve competitiveness challenges within the industrial sector.
Çınar continued:
“When you impose an additional 20 percent or 30 percent duty on a product, you increase the cost of imported goods. In this way, you create an opportunity for domestic manufacturers. Up to this point, this is correct. However, the real question begins after that. Does the domestic producer invest during this period? Does it increase its production capacity? Does it improve its technology? Does it increase efficiency? Does it move toward exports? If these do not happen, we may be protecting the existing cost structure rather than supporting the manufacturer.”
“TÜRKİYE ALSO IMPORTS IN ORDER TO PRODUCE”
Stating that Türkiye’s import structure must be carefully analyzed, Çınar emphasized that a significant portion of imports consists of raw materials and intermediate goods required by industry.
“Interpreting Türkiye’s import issue only as ‘foreign products are entering and domestic products are not being sold’ would be a major mistake. Türkiye is also a country that imports in order to manufacture. In many sectors, our industrial producers source raw materials, intermediate goods, technological components, and production equipment from abroad. Therefore, we must also calculate the impact of every new cost imposed on imports on export competitiveness.”
Çınar warned that protection measures applied to incorrect product groups or implemented without sufficient domestic production capacity may increase the costs of Turkish industrial producers.
“While trying to make imports more expensive, we may end up making exports more expensive. In my view, this is the risk that we need to consider most carefully today.”
“PROTECTION SHOULD NOT BE A RIGHT, BUT AN INDUSTRIALIZATION AGREEMENT”
Stating that Türkiye needs a new protection model, Çınar said that a “conditional and time-limited protection” model should be discussed.
Çınar stated: “The government should be able to tell producers: ‘I will protect you for three years; however, at the end of this period, I expect you to increase your capacity, invest, raise your localization ratio, reduce your costs, and, if possible, begin exporting.’ Performance must be measured at the end of the protection period.”
Çınar stated that producers investing, creating employment, and moving toward exports should continue to receive support, while protection policies should be reconsidered for businesses operating solely behind high customs barriers.
“CUSTOMS WALLS MAY PROTECT A FACTORY, BUT THEY DO NOT BUILD A FACTORY”
Dışyönder Chairman Dr. Hakan Çınar concluded his statement with the following remarks:
“Customs walls may protect a factory, but they do not build a factory. The fundamental objective of Türkiye’s industrial policy should not be to continuously make imports more expensive, but to make production in Türkiye more competitive.
Without solving energy costs, access to financing, technology gaps, scale-related challenges, and productivity issues, we cannot establish a sustainable industrial policy simply by increasing customs duties.
We must absolutely protect our domestic producers. However, while protecting them, we must also transform them, grow them, and make them capable of competing globally. Because Türkiye does not need protected factories; it needs factories that compete with the world.”
WHICH PRODUCTS RECEIVED ADDITIONAL COST BURDENS UNDER THE REGULATION
Under the new regulation, additional customs duties were updated across a wide range of product groups, including automotive and spare parts, electrical-electronics, cooling systems, LED products, cables and connection equipment, plastics-rubber products, lithium accumulators, tires, hand tools, machinery and industrial equipment, and toys; some duty rates increase up to 30 percent. In addition, surveillance measures were introduced for 18 product groups, and a safeguard measure of 120 dollars per ton was implemented for PET resin imports.
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