Turkey has turned its focus to reviving its trade potential with China, with its most recent efforts resulting in the launching of an e-commerce store on one of China’s biggest online platforms, Ankara's ambassador to Beijing said Tuesday.
"We have started the era of e-commerce in exports to China," Emin Önen told Anadolu Agency (AA).
Önen said they brought together PTTeM (PTT e-Store), a subsidiary of the state-run postal service PTT, and Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com under the coordination of the Trade Ministry.
"A Turkey e-store has been launched on JD.com, one of the largest e-commerce platforms in China," the ambassador said.
Önen stressed the importance of the presence of Turkish products in China, an e-commerce market worth around $2.1 trillion (TL 31.07 trillion) that accounts for around 55% of global online trade.
China is Turkey’s largest trade partner in Asia and second in the world. The volume of bilateral exchange of goods reached a record $36 billion in 2021, Önen said.
"Our exports to China reached $3.7 billion, an increase of 28% compared to 2020. China’s direct investments in Turkey are at the level of $5 billion as of 2021. We see that 70% of this has been accomplished in the last four years."
Pointing out that there is an imbalance in trade between Turkey and China, Önen stressed that they aim to make bilateral trade more sustainable and balanced by including high value-added products in exports. He also added that they aim to encourage and increase direct investment in Turkey.
Turkey has also focused on agricultural and food products as it works to increase and diversify its exports to China, the ambassador said.
Önen recalled permits granted for exports of many products, including cherries, peanuts, water products, milk, dairy products and poultry, which paved the way for sales worth around $360 million.
The official stressed the enormous size of China’s imports, which amounted to around $2.7 trillion last year.
"We are going through a period when Turkey is setting records in exports. But when we look at our exports to China, we see that we are in the thousandth tranches in their imports," Önen noted.
"This does not coincide with the realities of China. There is a great potential between the two countries, but we are still far below this potential."