Turkey has made headway in cotton production. Availability of high quality seeds, an increase in number of harvesters and good farming practices has facilitated higher yields. Turkey became part of the Better Cotton Initiative three years ago. Turkish mills have been investing in new machinery and technology to increase quality and lower costs in order to get ahead in the very competitive international textile trade.

In 2015, domestic cotton consumption was about 1.47 million metric tons in spite of the lower textile exports. War conditions in Syria, Iraq and Ukraine, and the end of exports to Russia after the Turkish downing of a Russian plane in November 2015 resulted in a decline to these destinations. In the meantime, mills had to lower their margins to keep their market share in the European market to continue operating.

During the first 10 months of 2015 Bangladesh and Greece were the leading foreign destinations for Turkish cotton. Turkey also exported about 70,000 bales of hydrophilic cotton for medical use during the same period. Domestic consumption is expected to go up, even though marginally, during 2016 due to recent initiatives to improve relations with Russia and regional countries. Also, textile exports to Europe are expected to grow due to relative growth in the economies of the region.