Automotive sector is the driving force of Turkish exports

ISTANBUL

Despite a year-on-year decline in revenue, the automotive industry once again topped the list of Turkey’s largest export sectors, with shipments to foreign markets worth $2.6 billion in June.

Automotive sector exports, which fell 12.4% last month compared to a year earlier, accounted for 14.1% of the country’s export revenues.

From January to June, local automakers achieved $17.7 billion in export revenue, up 2.3 percent compared to the same period in 2023.

According to the latest data from the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), the industry’s 12-month export revenue amounted to $35.4 billion.

The local automotive market has seen weak demand this year compared to 2023. Combined sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles fell for the third consecutive month in June on a year-on-year basis.

The market shrank 5.3 percent year-on-year in June, with total sales coming in at 106,000 units. Sales fell 10.1 percent in the previous month and 22.3 percent in March.

Automotive is one of the key industries in Turkey, employing tens of thousands of people. Several car manufacturers are listed among the 500 largest industrial enterprises by the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (İSO).

Ford Otomotiv ranked second on the list with production-based sales of 238 billion Turkish liras in 2023, while Totoya Otomotiv ranked fifth with sales of 127.5 billion Turkish liras. Oyak Renault and Mercedes-Benz Türkiye ranked sixth and eighth with sales of 107 billion Turkish liras and 94 billion Turkish liras, respectively.

After the automotive industry, the chemical sector was the second largest export industry, with a 12 percent share of Turkey’s total export revenue.

Chemical exports fell 6.5 percent in June to $2.23 billion, after rising 7.9 percent annually to $15.8 billion in the first half.

Defense exports are growing

Turkish arms and aerospace companies saw their exports rise 69.4 percent year-on-year last month to $563.4 million, accounting for 3 percent of the country’s total export revenue.

In the first half of 2024, defense and aerospace revenues rose nearly 22% year over year to $2.88 billion.

Turkish defense and aerospace products are used in 185 countries, said Haluk Görgün, head of the Defense Industry Agency (SSB).

Defense exports, which stood at just $248 million in 2002, reached a record $5.54 billion last year.

The number of projects implemented by local defense companies increased from 62 in 2002 to over 1,000 in 2024.

On the other hand, the project’s value has skyrocketed from about $5.5 billion two decades ago to $96.3 billion.