The global impact of the coronavirus outbreak has dealt a blow to the Turkish economy, especially in the tourism, trade and marble sectors, despite the deadly and fast-spreading virus not even officially being confirmed as having been detected in the country so far.
Turkey has a trade volume of $21 billion with China, while transportation costs have risen significantly because of logistics blockages and production delays after the coronavirus epidemic.
In the meantime, various Turkish companies active in the marble sector are facing the threat of bankruptcy. Up until the virus outbreak, Turkish exporters were selling about 5 million tons of marble blocks to China, making it the top importer.
An annual natural stone fair in China, due for March 16-19, has bee canceled, setting orders back months.
The sectoral loss is expected to amount to around $450 million this year, because China and Italy — another coronavirus afflicted country — were the biggest buyers of Turkish marble.
Source: Arab News
