TURKEY
With a clear EU focus and a strong regional position, Turkey is playing an increasingly important role in its surrounding area and beyond. A booming country with GDP growing at an average of over 5% for the last decade or more, Turkey represents one of the great business opportunities in world trade today.
Turkey is the 25th largest export economy in the world and the 38th most complex economy according to the Economic Complexity Index (ECI). Turkey is often classified as a newly industrialized country by economists and political scientists; while Merrill Lynch, the World Bank, and The Economist describe Turkey as an emerging market economy. The World Bank classifies Turkey as an upper-middle income country in terms of the country’s per capita GDP in 2007. In 2016 the GDP of Turkey was $857B and its GDP per capita was $24.2k. In 2016, Turkey exported $139B and imported $188B, resulting in a negative trade balance of $49.1B.
The EU is by far Turkey’s number one import partner. EU exports to Turkey are dominated by machinery and transport material, chemical products and manufactured goods. In 2016 Turkey imported $188B, making it the 18th largest importer in the world. Turkey imports mainly machinery, chemicals, semi-finished goods, fuels and transport equipment.
Turkey’s top 10 imports accounted for over two-thirds (69.1%) of the overall value of its product purchases from other countries. Turkish imports represent 1.2% of total global imports which totaled an estimated $16.473 trillion in 2015. From a continental perspective, 50.1% of Turkey’s total imports by value in 2016 were purchased from other European countries. Asian trade partners supplied 34.2% of import sales to Turkey while 6.4% worth of goods originated from North America. A smaller 2.7% share came from African exporters. Given Turkey’s population of 80.3 million people, its total $198.6 billion in 2016 imports translates to roughly $2,500 in yearly product demand from every person in the country.
The following product groups represent the highest dollar value in Turkey’s import purchases during 2016. Also shown is the percentage share each product category represents in terms of overall imports into Turkey.
- Machinery including computers: US$27.3 billion (13.7% of total imports)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $27.2 billion (13.7%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $20.1 billion (10.1%)
- Vehicles: $17.8 billion (9%)
- Iron, steel: $12.6 billion (6.3%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $11.6 billion (5.9%)
- Gems, precious metals: $7.2 billion (3.6%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $4.6 billion (2.3%)
- Organic chemicals: $4.4 billion (2.2%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: $4.3 billion (2.2%)
QUICK FACTS
- Official Name: Republic of Turkey
- Capital: Ankara
- Financial Center: Istanbul
- Government Type: Presidential system (from July 2018 on)
- Head of State: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (since 2014)
- Ruling Party: The Justice and Development Party (AKP) leads the government
- Land Mass: 770,760 km² (297,592 mi²)
- Sea and Water: 9,820 km² (3,792 mi²)
- Currency: Turkish lira (TRY=100 kurus)
- Major cities: Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir (out of 81 cities)
- Language: Turkish (official), other languages
- Time zone: Two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
- Telephone Code: +90
STRATEGIC LOCATION
- Neighboring Countries are Greece and Bulgaria at West; Georgia and Armenia at Northeast; Syria and Iraq at Southeast; and Azerbaijan and Iran at East
- Control of the Bosphorus and access to the Black Sea
- Eurasian country 97% on the Asia Minor Peninsula (Anatolia) and 3% on the European Balkan Peninsula (Eastern Trace)
TRADING HUB
- 56 countries, 6 billion customers by a 4-hour flight from Turkey
- Geographic advantage as a gateway to European, Middle Eastern, North African and Central Asian markets
POPULATION
- Turkey’s population by 2016 is 79.8 million with a median age of 31.4
- The largest youth population compared with the EU 27 countries
- Over 30.5 million labor force
LARGE DOMESTIC MARKET
- Cell phone penetration rate in households: 96.9% (2016)
- Internet access rate in households: 76.3% (2016)
- Internet access rate in enterprises: 93.7% (2016)
- Computer usage rate in households: 54.9%(2016)
- Credit card users: 58.8 million people (2016)
- Cars registered to the traffic: 11.1 million (2016)
ECONOMY
- The 17th largest economy in the world in terms of GDP PPP (2016)
- 6th largest economy compared with the EU in terms of GDP PPP (2016)
- GDP in current prices: USD 857 billion (2016)
- GDP per capita in current prices: USD 10,807 (2016)
- GDP growth in 2016 was 2.9%
FOREIGN TRADE
- Total volume of exports was USD 142.5 billion in 2016.
- Total volume of imports was USD 198.6 billion in 2016.
- Main product groups in exports are motor vehicles, machinery, steel, textile, food products and beverages as of 2016.
- Main product groups in imports are chemicals, basic metals, machinery, motor vehicles and textiles as of 2016.
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
- Total FDI inflow: USD 12.3 billion in 2016
- Countries with the highest FDI in Turkey: Netherlands (16%), USA (8%), Austria (7%), UK (7%), Luxemburg (6%), Germany (6%) and Belgium (6%) between 2010-2016
- FDI Inflows from 2002 to 2016 has been the highest for the financial intermediation sector; this followed by manufacturing, energy, telecommunication and wholesale and retail trade
GLOBAL TRADE AND MEMBERSHIPS
- a customs union with the EU since 1996
- Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with countries including Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Chile, Croatia, EFTA member countries (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein), Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, South Korea, Macedonia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mauritius, Palestine, Serbia, Syria, Tunisia
- Member of G-20, OECD, NATO, WTO, non-permanent member of UN Security Council
INVESTMENT CLIMATE
- Foreign capital firms increased to 52,754 in 2016 from 6,700 in 2003
- Equal treatment for all investors
- International arbitration
TURKEY
High Potential Target Market
Turkey with a population of nearly 80 million people, is the country of opportunity, and industrial countries from east and west are seriously competing to seize this market.
Turkey imported around 234 Billion US dollar In 2017 , making it the 18th largest importer in the world.
Importing product variations (IPV) of Turkey is high and various products has been imported to turkey such as machinery parts and equipment, Information and informatics, electrical appliances and equipment, health products, foods, construction materials, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, chemicals, petrochemical products and bitumen, detergents and specially all of which are among the capacities and capabilities of countries of ASEAN's exports.
