"Asian exporters snatched 30 per cent of Turkish companies' expected new orders for the 1998/99 winter season," Ismet Ozcan, president of Turkey's Textile Industrialists Association (TGSD), told Reuters in an interview.

He said another 10 per cent of the expected orders had been shared equally between Portuguese and Greek exporters.

Turkey's readywear producers and exporters faced the effects of the global crisis for the first time when the 1998/99 winter season orders were being taken, he said.

Turkish textile production, including yarn and fabrics, had been badly hit by cheap Asian products. "They (textile producers) faced unfair competition from Asian companies, which are ready to sell their goods at any price," he said.

"We expect a 30 to 40 per cent dropin textile and readywear exports in the last quarter, but annual exports will be equal to last year's exports," he said.

Turkey's textile and readywear exports rose 5.6 per cent year-on-year in the first nine months of the year to $8.2 billion. Turkey's textile and readywear exports stood at $2.67 billion in the last quarter of 1997 and a 30 per cent decline would result in $1.9 billion in exports in the fourth quarter.

Exports of around $1.9 billion in the last three months would be enough for the annual total to match last year's total of $10 billion of readywear and textile exports.

Textile and readywear exports comprised 40 per cent of the country's $20.6 billion total exports in the first nine months of the year, when exports increased 5.2 per cent from a year earlier.

"It is a good performance for the nine-month period but we have begun to face incredible Asian prices," Ozcan said.

He said his company had lost a Dutch order of 70,000 pieces, against a Vietnamese producer. "They signed thecontract at 14 guilders per piece, against our offer of 19 guilders with no profit," he added.

He said Asian producers had adapted their systems easily to the new business environment and reduced the handling period to six weeks, instead of 15 to 16 weeks previously.

Ozcan urged the Turkish government to keep its promise of new finance sources backed by the state to support exports against unfair competition.

"Textile employers decided to offer zero per cent wage increases in the collective bargainings to be held in November and December," Ozcan said.

Turkish state minister Isin Celebi this week announced a downward revision in the forecast of overall 1998 exports, to $27 billion from $29 billion previously.