The sale of Turkey’s popular export, ceramics, could skyrocket by at least a third. China is also a leading exporter of ceramics however, due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, their exports in many items are rapidly dropping. This is mainly due to the closing of several factories. The disease spreads easily and rapidly, and has already killed nearly 1,400 people in China. In order to avoid the further spread of disease, many factories are currently out of order. The close quarters of everyone crammed into factories could be an ideal breeding ground for the Coronavirus, which is one main reason for the drop in exports from China. Another reason that exports from China are dropping would be the tariffs from the United States. This outbreak when added to the tariffs has the potential to seriously hurt China’s economy, while boosting Turkey’s economy. The Turkish company may even be looking to invest 350 to 400 lira (equivalent to nearly $60 million) for a new factory, now that the demand for their products is so much higher. This could additionally create more open jobs for their people. As of right now, Turkey exports about $1 billion in ceramics, putting them in 7th for largest ceramics exporter. NG Kutahya Seramik, the leading Turkish company for ceramics, currently operates 7 factories and is hoping to increase production to put their revenue at 1 billion lira rather than the 800 million lira that they earned last year. This increase in revenue could lead to a serious boost in Turkey’s economy, will more money being cycled around in the market. While the Coronavirus outbreak is definitely awful for the people of China, I would certainly say that Turkey as well as other countries, such as Spain, are benefitting from it. These countries are stepping up in the ceramic production world, boosting their economies, and creating jobs. I think that it will be interesting to see how this ends up affecting China in the long run.
