Saudi Arabia embargoes Turkey – How marble imports are affected
Already strained relations between Saudi Arabia and Turkey led to the former’s decision to embargo Turkish products. Of course, the marble import sector is not unaffected, as Turkey has exported a significant percentage of marble to the Saudis.
More specifically, Saudi Arabia’s share of Turkey’s total exports of processed marble was 13.34%, while raw marble reached 0.03%. This in terms of numbers. In terms of value, exports of raw marble reached $ 229,622 and of processed marble $ 124.257.632 for the year 2019. In fact, Turkey’s exports to Saudi Arabia had already increased for 2020 – compared to first seven months compared to last year – an increase of 254.96% in terms of exports of raw marble and 24% in exports of processed marble.
Saudi Arabia’s decision to boycott Turkish products will take effect as early as this week, according to the Cumhuriyet newspaper, as Saudi authorities detain hundreds of Turkish trucks at the border and thousands of packages from Turkey at airports. The trucks got the green light to enter the country only after the intervention of Turkish diplomats in the kingdom.
The purpose of the official embargo is to hurt the Turkish economy, which has been facing major problems lately. An unofficial embargo was imposed by Riyadh in 2019 but will now become official.
The embargo concerned several types of products, with Turkey exporting marble (processed-raw), textiles, food and furniture to Saudi Arabia.
According to the Turkish daily Dunya, the Saudi government has instructed individual companies not to do business with Turkish companies and not to buy any kind of products, otherwise a fine will be imposed.
As mentioned above, the marble export sector of Turkey will also be significantly affected and it is of particular interest which countries will undertake to fill the gap in the marble imports of Saudi Arabia.
Source: ahvalnews.com
