Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

In his opening remarks, Davut Çetin first conveyed the greetings of TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu to members of parliament. The first case of coronavirus emerged in March, from that period until today, TOBB business community and the government, indicating that they undertook a serious bridge cetin, said that they conveyed the problems in the field very quickly. Davut Çetin, published in the Official Gazette on August 30, 2020, the increase in the automotive industry surprised the automotive industry, as a sector in previous Parliamentary meetings demanded both scrap incentives and OTV-related regulations, but the regulation as an increase in the domestic market negatively impacted and reported that there were serious order cancellations at that time.

Council President Cengiz Eroldu said in his opening remarks that due to the demand that has been delayed for the past two years, the Turkish market has made a very rapid entry into 2020, and then with the pandemic, 2020 is a difficult year to predict. Eroldu stated that in the process of normalization, the creation of the appropriate interest rate environment in Turkey quickly increased and revived the market, resulting in a very active market since July.

Eroldu thanked the government officials for making very quick decisions in the pandemic process, stating that when looking at September, the share of light vehicles produced in Turkey reached 50% of the total market, which is the effect of both policies and the Turkish automotive industry being flexible and fast.

Reporting that while there is a good outlook in the domestic market, especially the largest market, the Western European market is affected by pandemic resulting in a significant drop in exports, Eroldu noted that in the first 9 months, while the European market shrank by 29%, looking at September alone, a growth of 3.1% points to a positive signal. Eroldu said that the pandemic effects have accelerated somewhat in Europe in recent days, and that they are concerned that the market trend of improvement will be negatively affected due to the impact of the second wave of the pandemic in Europe.

Eroldu said that the other issue that another issue the automotive industry can be proud of during the pandemic period was increasing employment. Looking at the figures for the first 9 months, despite a 19% production decline in the automotive industry, employment increased by 4%, indicative of increased capacity utility and production speed in recent months.

Eroldu said that they predict that an expected 5% growth in Turkey in 2021 will have a positive impact on the domestic market.

At the meeting, views were shared with the participation of Ahmet Karabay, Deputy Director General of the General Directorate of Product Safety and Supervision of the Ministry of Commerce, and Aykut Kırbaş, Secretary General of TSE, regarding “Areas Which Require Improvements in the Import Inspections Process.”

Ministry of Commerce Risk Management and Control Deputy Director General Ali Toksöz attended the meeting and informed Council Members in regards to the Kapıkule Customs Gate delays and updating the minimum wage tariff of customs consultants agenda items.

Current developments in the protection of personal data were also discussed at the meeting, the Digital Transformation Task Force Committee created within the TOBB, noting that initiatives will be made with the Ministry of Justice on the issue.

The meeting, which also saw discussion about the EU Green Deal, concluded the meeting by stating that there are significant changes and developments in the European market in terms of regulations, that TOBB has started to work seriously by forming a workgroup, that it is a very important issue not only for the automotive industry, but also for the industry, production and exports of all Turkey, and that it should be prepared well for this new order by raising awareness.