GDP (Billion $) – 1.34 thousand (IMF, 2024)
GDP Per Capita ($) – 15.37 thousand (IMF, 2024)
Growth Rate (%) – 4,5 (TÜİK, 2023)
Population – 87.24 million (IMF, 2024)
Total Area (km2) – 769,604
Capital – Ankara
Turkey is a country that occupies a unique geographic position, lying partly in Asia and partly in Europe. Throughout its history it has acted as both a barrier and a bridge between the two continents.
The Republic of Türkiye, with the 19th largest nominal gross domestic product (GDP) and 11th largest GDP based on purchasing power parity (PPP), has long drawn the presence of U.S. corporations across sectors. Türkiye’s young population of approximately 87 million and highly favorable geostrategic location positively impact its investment climate.
According to Government of Türkiye (GoT) statistics, the Turkish economy grew 5.6% in 2022, down 5.5% from 2021. Türkiye’s economy in 2022 was impacted by a drop in domestic and foreign demand which was exacerbated by high energy prices, and a series of devastating earthquakes in February 2023 resulting in widespread destruction throughout the country’s southern region.
AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY
The foundation of Türkiye’s automotive industry dates back to the early 1960s. During a period of rapid industrialization and progress, this key sector transformed itself from assembly-based partnerships to a full-fledged industry with design capability and massive production capacity. Since 2003, original equipment manufacturers (OEM) have invested over USD 18 billion in their operations in Türkiye. These investments significantly expanded their manufacturing capabilities, which in turn led Türkiye to become an important part of the global value chain of international OEMs. Meeting and exceeding international quality and safety standards, today’s Turkish automotive industry is highly efficient and competitive thanks to value-added production.
As part of its commitment to transforming its automotive industry, which has historically been a key economic driver in integrating the Turkish economy with the global value chain, and to its vision of making Türkiye an economic powerhouse, Türkiye has introduced its own locally-developed born-electric car built upon strength stemming from the country's long-standing know-how in the area.
Accordingly, Türkiye's Automobile Joint Venture Group, known as Togg, will produce five different models on a joint platform with fully-owned intellectual and industrial property rights by 2030. The first SUV model of Togg has been rolled out in April 2023.
Leveraging a competitive and highly-skilled workforce combined with a dynamic local market and favorable geographical location, the vehicle production of 8 global, and 5 local OEMs in Türkiye has increased by almost five times from 300,000s in 2002 to over 1.4 million units in 2023. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 7 percent during that period.
Significant growth posted by Türkiye’s automotive sector led to the country’s becoming the 12th largest automotive manufacturer in the world and 3rd largest in Europe by the end of 2023.
Türkiye has already become a center of excellence, particularly with respect to the production of commercial vehicles. By the end of 2023, Türkiye was the number one producer of commercial vehicles (CVs) in Europe.
Proven as a production hub of excellence, the Turkish automotive industry is now aiming at improving its R&D, design, and branding capabilities. As of 2023, 162 R&D and design centers belonging to automotive manufacturers and suppliers are operational in Türkiye.
Notable examples of global brands with product development, design, and engineering activities in Türkiye include Ford, Fiat, Daimler, AVL, and FEV. Ford Otosan’s R&D center is one of Ford’s three largest global R&D centers, while Fiat’s R&D center in Bursa is the Italian company’s only center serving the European market outside its home country. Meanwhile, Daimler’s R&D center in Istanbul complements the German company’s truck and bus manufacturing operations in Türkiye. AVL Türkiye, which opened up its 2nd R&D center in Türkiye, develops autonomous and hybrid vehicle technologies.
Türkiye offers a supportive environment on the supply chain side. There are around 1,100 component suppliers supporting the production of OEMs. With the parts going directly to the production lines of vehicle manufacturers, the localization rate of OEMs varies between 50 and 70 percent.
Türkiye is home to many global suppliers. There are more than 250 global suppliers that use Türkiye as a production base, with 30 of them ranking among the 100 largest global suppliers.
Auto manufacturers increasingly choose Türkiye as a production base for their export sales. This is evidenced by the fact that around 70 percent of vehicle production in Türkiye was destined for international markets in 2023. Türkiye exported more than 1 million vehicles to international markets in the same year. In addition, Türkiye is the second bigger vehicle exporter to European markets after UK in 2023.
In the January-February period of 2024, total production increased by 8 percent, and automobile production increased by 12 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. In this period, the total production was 241 thousand 861 units, and the automobile production was 151 thousand 14 units.
The total market increased by 40 percent compared to the same period of the previous year and amounted to 193 thousand 297 units. In this period, the automobile market increased by 52 percent and was 146 thousand 318 units.
Compared to the same period of the previous year, total automotive exports increased by 4 percent on a unit basis and automobile exports by 3 percent in the January-February period of 2024. In this period, total automotive exports were 164 thousand 560 units, and automobile exports were 100 thousand 232 units.
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DEFENCE AND AEROSPACE INDUSTRY
The Turkish defense and aerospace industry has been undergoing a profound transformation over the past decades. Having achieved unparalleled success in the industry in recent years, today Türkiye has one of the fastest developing defense and aerospace industries in the world. With their qualified human resources and state-of-the-art technology infrastructure, Turkish companies bring global solutions to satisfy many countries' local requirements. These Turkish companies conduct activities in many critical areas of the defense and aerospace industry, from original design development to domestic production, from modernization to modification, and from R&D to international projects.
During the establishment of the domestic defense industry infrastructure, the preference was to cooperate and co-produce with leading countries and associated companies. This enabled many defense projects like the MİLGEM battleship, the ALTAY Main Battle Tank, ATAK helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to be successfully developed by the national defense industry. Building upon this early experience, Türkiye ventured forth with further indigenous projects, including the ANKA UAV, the HÜRKUŞ ground attack aircraft, the GÖKTÜRK satellite, a light utility helicopter, as well as a jet fighter aircraft. In addition, some important sub-systems and technology development projects have been initiated to support such programs. Today, thanks in part to many of the indigenous projects it has developed, the Turkish defense industry is quite mature in terms of its capabilities, quality, and proficiency. The Turkish defense industry both meets the needs of the Turkish Armed Forces and is a known player in the fiercely competitive international defense market. In the coming years, the industry's share in domestic and overseas markets is set to increase as important national defense projects are completed.
As of the end of 2022, the Total Defense and Aviation Sector Turnover, which includes all defense and aviation sales of our defense companies, and the size of the sector has reached $12.196 billion. While only 62 defense projects were carried out in 2002, today this number has increased approximately 13 times and reached 850. While defense projects with a budget of approximately 5.5 billion dollars were carried out in 2002, today the project volume has reached 90 billion dollars, an increase of approximately 16 times.
Türkiye is determined to position itself as a hub for civil aviation. A new airport has been constructed in Istanbul, and it is the largest airport in the world with a capacity of 200 million passengers per year and flights to nearly 350 destinations.
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MACHINERY INDUSTRY
Machinery manufacturing continues to be one of the key growth drivers of the Turkish economy. This sector plays a crucial role in the development of Türkiye's greater manufacturing industry due in no small part to its capability to produce intermediate goods and to provide inputs to key sectors such as chemicals, construction, automotive, energy, textiles, agriculture, and mining. The machinery manufacturing sector in Türkiye is known for being R&D intensive -- Türkiye graduates over 39,000 engineers every year in mechanical fields -- and for creating high value.
Türkiye's competitiveness in the machinery sector is driven by favorable input costs and strong enablers. Input costs include competitive labor cost, an affordable and reliable energy supply, and logistical advantages based on the geostrategic location of Türkiye; enablers, on the other hand, include a skilled workforce, generous investment incentives, an innovation-oriented infrastructure, and a strong supply base and domestic clusters.
The Turkish machinery sector more than quadrupled its revenues to reach USD 47 billion and doubled its workforce to hit 300,000 in 2022.
While global exports doubled, Türkiye's exports have increased tenfold in the past 20 years and reached USD 21 billion in 2023.
The export/import ratio of the industry has increased from 30 percent to 70 percent since 2003, indicating an ever-growing market with less dependency on im ports.
4th largest export industry of Türkiye, accounting for a 10 percent share in the country's total exports, machinery products are shipped to more than 200 countries. 60 percent of total machinery product exports are shipped to the USA and EU countries, mostly to Germany, UK, France, and Italy.
Total imports of the machinery sector surpassed USD 38 billion in 2022, endorsing the strong demand from the domestic market.
Türkiye's agricultural machinery market reached USD 3.6 billion; construction machinery market reached 2 billion in 2022.
Türkiye's HVAC sector stands out as a strong industrial base with USD 4.7 billion total export in value. It also functions as Europe's manufacturing base for panel radiators, boilers, and air handling units (AHUs).
Türkiye's market for lifting and handling equipment reached USD 2.9 billion in 2022.
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STEEL INDUSTRY
Today, there are 27 steel factories with electric arc furnaces (EAO), 11 induction furnaces and 3 basic oxygen furnaces in Turkey.
Steel production worldwide in 2023 fell to 1.8 billion tons, with a slight decline of 0.03% compared to 2022. Turkish steel production, on the other hand, decreased by 4% in 2023 and amounted to 33.7 million tons.
In accordance with the European Coal and Steel Community (ECCT) agreement signed between the EU and Turkey in 1996, customs duties in the steel trade were mutually abolished. The agreement allows our iron and steel products to be traded to EU member countries without customs duties. In addition, in accordance with the provisions of the AKÇT agreement, the state cannot support the steel industry.
All steel companies operating in Turkey belong to the private sector and constantly follow technological developments in order to reinforce the position of the country's industry in the global market in the long term. The steel industry, which is one of the most developed sectors of our country, is the fifth largest sector contributing to the Turkish economy today. Thanks to the import substitution system, which has entered into force since 1980, Turkey has increased its steel exports to neighboring countries, especially Iran, Iraq and North African countries. In the next 20 years, there was a great increase in Turkey's production and exports.
While Turkey was the 10th largest steel producer in the world in 2001, it became the 8th largest producer in the world and the 2nd largest producer in Europe by 2019. Between 2001 and 2011, Turkey was the third fastest growing steel producer in the world, after China and India. Turkey's steel production has increased significantly since 2001, increased from 15 million tons to 40.4 million tons in 2021, and became the 7th largest steel producer in the world and the largest in Europe. Turkey's total steel production decreased to 35.1 million tons with the effect of falling steel demand due to increasing global inflation in 2023. In 2023, Turkish steel exports decreased sharply due to increasing global inflation and input costs and unfair trade measures and declined to the world's 9th largest steel exporter. On the other hand, Turkey's liquid steel production decreased slightly thanks to the strong local demand and realized as 33.7 million tons and maintained its position as the 8th largest manufacturer in the world.
Thanks to competitive prices and effective marketing strategies, Turkish steel producers export to all over the world. Turkey's main export market in 2023 took a total share of 31% in the amount and formed the European Union countries with 4.5 million tons of exports. Near and Middle East countries, on the other hand, stood out as the second largest market in Turkey's exports. In 2023, 22.8% of our total exports to the region were realized and measured in amount was 3.3 million tons. Steel exports to other European countries maintained its third largest market position in 2023 with a market share of approximately 2 million tons and 14%. In Turkey's total steel exports, the North Africa region received a share of 10.9% with 1.6 million tons, and the Latin American region received a 7% share with 1 million tons.
