Turkey eyes spot in port of Los Angeles to promote exports

Turkey is considering building storehouses at the port of Los Angeles for service sectors including the textile, leather and chemicals industries, State Minister for Foreign Trade Zafer Caglayan said Wednesday. En route from Los Angeles to Houston, Texas, Caglayan told reporters he had held talks with officials at the port in order to boost Turkish exports to California. Turkey's greatest problem in reaching distant markets is time, he said. "A delegation of officials from the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat, Exports Department, and exporters' unions will visit Los Angeles next month," Caglayan said. "We have identified five sectors that need to be present at the storehouses: clothing, including ready-to-wear garments and textiles, plus electrical machines, leather goods and shoes, chemicals, and plastics and furniture… This is how China and South Korea work." Exchange rates affect imports far more than exports, Caglayan said, adding, "The exchange rate boosts imports. It's a monster." He said Turkey should keep production levels at pace with export volume, rather than vice versa. "The currency used in 60 percent of imports is US dollars, and in 48 percent of export it is euros," he explained. "Some 78 percent of Turkey's exports to Europe are bought with euros." On the leading US firms he spoke with, Caglayan said Cygni Capital Partners, an alternative energy company that produces oil for less than $30 per barrel by processing oil sand, sees great potential in Turkey. Also, Corpinfo, a data center builder owned by Ahmad Gramian which works with Microsoft and IBM, is interested in building a data backup center in Turkey, he said. Bentley Investment, a global real estate company, also wants to trade in Turkey, where they see important business opportunities, he said.