Türkiye and Finland Aim to Increase Trade Volume

The trade volume between Türkiye and Finland surpassed $2 billion for the first time in 2022

Despite the pandemic, Türkiye’s exports to Finland increased by 11% in 2021 compared to the previous year, reaching USD 370 million,
while Türkiye’s imports from Finland increased at the same rate, reaching USD 1,341 billion. With the effect of the regression of the pandemic in 2022, Türkiye’s exports to Finland increased to USD 708.9 million, while its imports from Finland amounted to USD 1,395
billion. As a result, the trade volume between the two countries exceeded USD 2 billion for the first time and our foreign trade deficit decreased to USD 686 million in the same period.

Looking at Türkiye’s exports to Finland, we see that the automotive, machinery and electrical devices, iron and steel goods and home textile sectors stand out. In Türkiye’s imports from Finland, on the other hand, we see that paper or cardboard goods stand out with a share of 22%, iron and steel with a share of 10%, and pulp of wood or other fibrous cellulosic materials and paper and cardboard goods with a share of 10%. Currently, direct investments of Türkiye in Finland between 2002-2022 have reached an amount of over USD 65 million. In addition, we can tell that there are new investmen and partnership opportunities for our companies in Finland, especially in the fields of electricity and electronics, medical devices and equipment, and environmental technologies.

During the same period, direct investments from Finland to Türkiye exceeded USD 446 million. Finnish companies’ investments in our country are aimed at trade, telecommunications, iron and steel, ready-made clothing, electronics, machinery, and the chemical industry. Besides the fact that Finnish investments in the GSM license and telecommunication network are among Finland’s most significant investments, we can also tell that investments and trade in the defence industry will increase as a result of the recent developments between the two countries. We witnessed the first example of this issue when a Finnish steel manufacturer announced that it would supply protective materials to a Turkish military vehicle manufacturer until 2025.

Between January 11-13, 2023, as DEİK/TürkiyeFinland Business Council, we organized a TürkiyeFinland Round Table Meeting with the participation of Mehmet Muş, Minister of Trade of the Republic of Türkiye, and Ville Skinnari, Finnish Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, within the framework of our delegation visit to Finland. Considering that this visit and meeting was held between Türkiye and Finland in such a short time after the Joint Economy and Trade Committee (JETCO) held for the first time in Istanbul on June 8, 2022, we can consider it as an indicator of how much both countries want to develop commercial relations.

Ville Skinnari underlined at the Türkiye and Finland Round Table Meeting that in addition to the existing trade and investment relations between Türkiye and Finland, there are cooperation opportunities in many different sectors such as Green Energy-Green Steel, Defence Industry, Food, 5G Technology and he conveyed his gratitude for Türkiye’s logistical support to Europe and its efforts to keep the grain corridor open. Mehmet Muş also pointed out that these issues are of great importance for the trade relations between the two countries and stated that the trade volume between the two countries, which broke the record by exceeding USD 2 billion, is yet to reach its true potential, and indicated USD 5 billion as the target. He stated that the cooperation between the two countries should be increased, especially in the IT (Software, Gaming, Fintech, Cyber Security) and Shipbuilding Sectors.

As stated by Turkish Trade Minister Mehmet Muş and Finnish Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari, the commercial and investment relations between the two countries have great potential. In this period, where our country has been working diligently towards green transformation and digital transformation, and the EU has gradually implemented the Twin Transformation trade policies, we visited the Halton Group, Peikko Group and Kempower facilities in Lahti, which is the 2021 European Green Capital in Finland that has successfully achieved the EU’s 0 Carbon targets. Following the visits, we also met with Lahti Municipality and Lahti Region Development (LADEC). At this meeting, we had the opportunity to listen to Lahti’s steps towards becoming the European Green Capital and the winwin relationship they have managed to establish between both the environment and the business world.