The geography for textile manufacturing has changed location because of the fact that the developed countries operating in the ready-to-wear sector started to search for cheap resources in production. In the recent years, Asian countries, which hold the advantage of inexpensive manpower, have started to strengthen in the textile industry as the quotas in global exports have been revoked.

Considering the number of textile machines imported by North Africa, the Turkic Republic, the Middle Eastern, and some Asian countries until 2017 and through the spindle capacity they have, we observe that they have a share of 25% to 50% from the total market size (according to the machine type).

Organizing the ITM Exhibitions in Istanbul, where happens to be one of the most convenient geographical locations for the countries in these regions, in addition to ease of transportation and visa liberalization; transforms the ITM Exhibitions into a center of attraction for both exhibitors and visitors.

It is essential to take a look at the 'International Textile Machinery Shipment Statistics' report of 2018 published by The International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) in order to explain the significance of ITM Exhibitions in terms of the geographical location in which they are held.

Spindle, weaving, and knitting machine shipments carried out until 2017 together with the delivery rates achieved belonging to these machines between 2009 and 2018 to countries particularly Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan,

Malaysia, and Egypt; additionally including Syria, Iraq, Iran, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are as follows:

YARN MACHINES

The spindle shipments (including short-staple spindles long- staple spindles, and rotors) made by the countries mentioned above until 2017 are 60 million pieces in total.

Short - Staple Spindles: Worldwide share among the total shipment is %24.

Long - Staple Spindles: Worldwide share among the total shipment is %9.

Rotors: Worldwide share among the total shipment is %25.

The total spindle shipments carried out the same aforementioned countries between 2009 and 2018 are approximately amount to 24 million pieces.

Short - Staple Spindles: Worldwide share among the total shipment is %18.

Long - Staple Spindles: Worldwide share among the total shipment is %45.

Rotors: Worldwide share among the total shipment is %14.

Observing these figures, one can easily comprehend the importance and significance of the geography that the ITM Exhibitions address which are organized in Istanbul.

TURKEY; THE SECOND HIGHEST GROWTH IN SHORT- STAPLE SPINDLE DELIVERY MARKET IN 2018

Turkey, being a textile country, is one of the world's leading textile machinery purchasing countries. The country invests large quantities of machinery in this subject both from the Western and the Asian and Far Eastern countries. The total purchases made by Turkey in 2017 amount to 1 billion 448 million dollars, while, in 2018, 1 billion 905 million dollars of purchases have occurred.

According to the records of the TSI (Turkey Statistical Institute); the total value of the imported textile machinery in 2018 amounts to 1.9 billion dollars where

523.2 million dollars of it is accounted for the machinery used in the preparation of yarns and fibers. The second place is taken by the weaving machines with $ 316.9 million dollars of imports and knitting and knitwear machines are in third place with 316.1 million dollars worth of import. The fourth most imported machine group was the machines used in textile finishing. 2018 imports of the machines in this group amount to 273.6 million dollars.

The report of Turkey in weaving and knitting machine shipments, and its spindle manufacturing capacity are considerably good. According to the ITMF report of 2018, the total number of spindles shipped in the yarn machinery division increased by approximately 126,000 pieces, to 8.66 million units compared to the previous years' deliveries. The markets showing the most growth in the short- staple spindle machinery shipments considering the global worldwide figures in 2018 compared to the previous year are South Korea with 834%, Turkey with 306%, Vietnam with 290%, and Egypt with 285%. The six biggest investors in the short-staple spindle machinery segment in 2018 are China, India, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Indonesia.