Cotton USA, which promotes US cotton fibre and manufactured cotton products worldwide, announced that US cotton sales were boosted at the recent Cotton USA quality conference, held from September 13 to 15, 2017, in Belek, Turkey. It helped strengthen the business relationships between the 127 attendees from Turkish textile mills and US cotton merchants. The 41 participating mills represented 74 per cent of 2016/17 US exports to Turkey, an estimated 1.1 million bales of US cotton. US exporters and textile mills reported sales of 113,528 bales of US cotton during the Cotton USA quality conference, valued at approximately $38.1 million. As a result of attending the event, textile mill buyers said they would likely purchase an additional 365,700 bales of US cotton during the next year, an estimated $122.9 million increase in sales.

webSURGE Digital Marketing, a company that specializes in SEO, received the prestigious IMPACT Award for App Development B2B in recognition of its App Development for CooperVision. The Internet Marketing Association’s annual awards celebration was held on Sept. 29, 2017, at the Enclave in Las Vegas. The mission of IMA, a global organization of professional partners, is to create a database of proven internet marketing strategies that provide a foundation of success for those in sales, marketing, business ownership, programming, and creative development. IMA created the IMPACT Award to reward those whose innovation, effort, or creativity made a dynamic improvement for their clients in their respective industry.

Turkish archeologists announced this week that they may have discovered the bones of St. Nicholas, the saint better known to the world as Santa Claus. The remains were unearthed beneath a 4th-century structure in Demre (ancient Myra), the traditional location of Nicholas’ birth. The discovery of St. Nicholas raises a whole host of unpleasant bedtime questions. If Santa is buried in Turkey, who has been delivering the presents?  The discovery was made after digital analysis of the ground beneath the church. Archaeologists currently believe that the tomb has gone undisturbed since antiquity, but the mosaics on the floor make it difficult to excavate there. Cemril Karabayram, the head of Antalya’s Monument Authority, explained that specialists are unable to confirm the story until the floor of the church (which depicts scenes from the life of Nicholas of Myra) can be carefully removed.

According to the data published by Turkish Steel Exporters’ Association (CIB=Çelik İhracatçıları Birliği), Turkish steel exports increased by 7 pct YoY to 13.1 mln tons in the first nine months of 2017. Export value increased by 23.4 pct to USD 8.2 bln. In Jan-Sept 2017, EU remains the top destination for Turkish steel exports. Steel exports to EU were 4 mln tons, a considerable 53 pct increase against the same period last year. Turkish steel exports to Middle East were 3 mln tons and that of North Africa were 1.1 mln tons.