Nike has suspended sales in Turkey on its website and app following the announcement of a customs tax hike.

The increased tax appears to be aimed at curbing Turks’ soaring purchases from Chinese heavy discount e-marketplace Temu, which is hitting local businesses.

Turkish consumers visiting Nike’s Turkey website are encounter a notice stating: “We cannot guarantee our consumers that their orders will arrive smoothly and on time, so we are suspending online orders from Turkey for the time being.

“We continue to assess the impact of recent changes to Turkish customs regulations on the shopping experience for our consumers in Turkey.”

The Turkish government said on August 6 it was hiking the customs duty applied to goods with a value exceeding €30 sent via mail and cargo,

The duty on goods coming from countries outside the European Union doubled to 60%.

ChannelX gave more detail on the changed custom duty rates that will apply from around August 21. It said:

• The de minimis has been slashed from €150 to €30
• Duty on goods coming from countries outside the European Union has been doubled from 30% to 60%
• Duty on goods coming from countries inside the European Union has almost doubled from 18% to 30%
• An additional 20% tax on top of the combined tax will be levied under a ‘Special Consumption Tax Law’ (mainly luxury products)
• Items exceeding 30kg will be subject to commercial customs laws and incur an additional 48% customs tax

The marketplace selling and social platforms portal noted: “What appears to have been the biggest factor in these regulation changes is the massive influence in buyer behaviour caused by the rise of [Chinese online marketplace] Temu shopping in Turkey. Consumers have become obsessed with shopping on the app for relatively low ASP [average selling price] products and Turkey wants to protect local ecommerce businesses and give them a chance to compete.

“While the customs increases are high, this won’t be the last time we see countries lower de minimis thresholds – the EU has already announce plans to abolish the €150 de minimis for the bloc meaning that all parcels entering the EU will be subject to customs duty. This is planned for March 2025.”