Turkish SMEs have strong trade ties with Asia Pacific: Survey

ISTANBUL

Federal Express Corporation conducted a survey across Europe and the Asia Pacific (APAC), examining trade lane trends and the key enablers and barriers to cross-border trade.

The findings underscore strong export confidence among Turkish small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and highlight Türkiye’s leading position as having the highest proportion of internationally trading SMEs doing business with APAC and the Middle East, among the nine markets surveyed.

The survey polled over 1,200 SMEs across nine European markets, including Türkiye, and 850 SMEs across 13 APAC markets.

While Europe is the dominant trade destination for Turkish SMEs (86 percent), APAC comes second (67 percent), with the Middle East (46 percent) and the U.S. (28 percent) coming third and fourth.

According to the research, Turkish SMEs have the highest proportion of customers in APAC on average, with 12 percent coming from this region. It also shows that 92 percent of Turkish SMEs trading with APAC expect their trade balance over the next year to shift toward exports or maintain current levels.

Nearly 19 percent of Turkish businesses trading internationally say that APAC represents more than a quarter of their customers, more than double the European average. Looking toward 2026, South Korea (70 percent) and China (68 percent) are overwhelmingly seen as the APAC markets offering the best opportunities for growth for business in Türkiye, followed by Japan (65 percent).

“This study comes at an important time following the official opening of our new Istanbul air transit facility, which stands as a vital bridge along the Europe-APAC trade corridor.” said Eser Sezek, vice president ground operations, FedEx Express Türkiye.

“With an internal customs clearance department operating to FedEx’s global excellence standards, our customers can reach key markets across APAC and beyond with greater speed, efficiency and reliability,” he said.