The Middle East Industry

Accounting for between a quarter and a third of the country’s entire GDP, Turkey’s industrial sector is a world player in areas as diverse as automotives, ready-to-wear, chemicals and retail. A major source of Europe’s industrial imports – as well as a destination for the continent’s exports – Turkey is also a major industrial trader with the...

Known all over the world for its carpets and clothes, Turkey has long held a major place in the world textile and ready-to-wear markets. In recent times, however, that status has been challenged by lower-cost Asian producers, obliging the sector to go further upscale, and capitalise on its great structural flexibility in order to beat...

The sixth-largest vehicle manufacturer in the EU and the 17th-largest in the world, Turkey is now a major player on the global automotives map. Indeed, within the EU, it is first in light commercial vehicle (LCV) production and second in buses, turning out a total of 1.073m units of all kinds in 2012.

Taken in its broadest sense to include sub-sectors such as petrochemicals, fertilisers, soaps and detergents, pharmaceuticals, paints and colouring agents, as well as raw chemical production, Turkey’s chemical business ranks second among domestic export industries, after automotives. Indeed, the sector has been steadily climbing its way to a...