Turkeys share in EU clothing market falls

Turkeys share in EU clothing market falls

Imports of clothing and apparel by the 27 member states of the European Union in the first five months of 2026 decreased by 11.9% compared with the same period last year, reaching €38.7 billion.

In the same period, the EU’s imports of clothing and apparel from Turkey also fell by 15.8%, from €4.05 billion to €3.41 billion. Despite this decline, Turkey remains the EU’s third-largest supplier of clothing and apparel, after China and Bangladesh.

The EU’s imports of clothing and apparel from China in the first five months of 2026 fell by 10.1% to €11.7 billion, and from Bangladesh by 19% to €7.4 billion. Also, all of the EU’s 10 largest clothing and apparel suppliers faced a decline in exports to this market compared with the same period last year.

Turkey’s share of EU clothing and apparel imports, which was about 11% in January-May 2024, fell to 9.2% in the same period in 2025 and to 8.8% in the first five months of 2026. Thus, Turkey has lost 2.2 percentage points of its share in the EU clothing market over two years.

Among the EU’s 10 largest clothing and textile suppliers, the market share of Turkey, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Cambodia has decreased; in contrast, countries such as China, Vietnam, Morocco, Tunisia and Myanmar have managed to increase their share.

The unit value per kilogram of Turkey’s clothing exports to the EU was about €20.4 in 2025 overall. This figure rose to €20.8 in January-May 2026, placing Turkey in third place among the countries with the highest unit value of clothing exports among the EU’s 10 largest suppliers. Tunisia, Morocco and Vietnam were also at the top of this list.

This position shows that Turkey, compared with low-cost suppliers, is also present in the higher value-added product segment. In the same period, the average value of EU clothing and apparel imports per kilogram was €14.1.

Despite the decline in Turkey’s share of the EU clothing market, the country’s position in supplying textiles and raw materials remains significant. In January-May 2026, the EU’s imports of textiles and raw materials from countries outside the Union fell by 10.6%. Imports of these products from Turkey also fell by 9.8% to about €1.3 billion.

However, Turkey maintained its position as the EU’s second-largest textile supplier after China. Turkey’s share of the EU textile market also rose from 17.5% to 17.6%. Therefore, while the overall EU textile and clothing market faced a decline in imports, Turkey was able to slightly increase its share in the textile segment and maintain its second place among suppliers to this market.

Customs regimes and their impact on the competitiveness of clothing and textile suppliers in the EU market were also examined. According to the report, Turkey can export industrial products covered by the Customs Union to the EU with an A.TR certificate and without paying customs duties.

In contrast, Bangladesh and Myanmar benefit from tariff exemptions under the “Everything But Arms” regime, Pakistan under the Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+), and Vietnam, Morocco and Tunisia under free trade and preferential agreements. Chinese goods face a 12% customs tariff, and the import tariff on Indian goods currently varies from 9.6% to 12%.

Overall, although Turkey has maintained its third place in supplying clothing and second place in supplying textiles to the EU, its share of the Union’s clothing market has fallen by 2.2 percentage points over the past two years, and its clothing exports in the first five months of 2026 fell by 15.8%.