Turkish medical devices and protective industry exports: Panel gravity model application

With the Covid-19 health crisis, the deficiencies of countries in the field of medical devices have emerged. This situation has led countries to develop in the field of medical devices. Turkey has come to the fore by producing respirators in this regard, which have been exported to foreign markets. The product variety of medical devices is wide, and there are different classifications. This study examines the export of medical devices with 9018 tariff positions of Turkey made to 34 OECD countries between 2010 and 2020. The panel data random effects estimator was used to estimating the models based on the gravity model. While Turkey's exports of medical devices with tariff position 9018 were chosen as the dependent variable, the independent variables were the GDP values of OECD countries, GDP values of Turkey, real effective exchange rates of OECD countries, populations of OECD countries, and the distance between Turkey and the capitals of OECD countries. As a result of the study, it has been found that the GDP values, distance, and population variables of OECD countries are essential variables for the export of medical devices with tariff position 9018. It has been concluded that the increase in the gross domestic product and population of the OECD countries affects exports positively, while the distance between countries affects exports negatively.