As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of knitted fabrics, Turkey imported 658 circular knitting machines worth $26.4 mn in the first four months of 2018 – almost three times as many as in the first four months of 2017, according to new government statistics. As per the Turkish Statistical Institute, in the January-April period of 2017, Turkey imported just 223 circular knitting machines worth $13 mn.
The 658 circular knitting machines imported so far this year came from eight countries – three European countries and five countries in the Far East. A total of 145 machines worth $11.2 mn were imported from Germany and 37 machines worth $2.5 mn were imported from Italy. Interestingly, a total of 165 circular knitting machines worth around $715,000, were imported from the United Kingdom – these are assumed to be second hand machines.
During the period, most of the machinery imported from the Far East came from China, as would be expected – a total of 188 circular knitting machines worth $6.2mn were imported into the TUIK statistics. In addition, 24 knitting machines worth $2.7 mn were imported from Japan, 65 machines worth $2 mn were imported from Taiwan, 19 machines worth $502,000 were imported from Malaysia and 15 machines worth $839,000 were imported from South Korea.
