Business morale improves, capacity usage increases

ANKARA

Business morale improved and capacity utilization in the key manufacturing sector increased in March, according to separate data released on March 25.

The business confidence index, which has been on the rise since January, increased by 1.7 points from the previous month to reach 104.1, the Central Bank said.

The index of the general business situation climbed from 93 in February to 96.5 in March, while the index of total current orders rose by 1 percent monthly to 84.4.

The index of the volume of output in the next three months surged 8 percent month-on-month, Central Bank data showed.

The Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) separately reported on March 25 that confidence in the services sector ticked up 0.2 percent in March after plunging 1.9 percent monthly in February.

The increase in confidence was driven by stronger demand for services in the past three months.

The confidence index for the retail sector, however, declined 2.5 percent, comparing unfavorably with the 1.6 percent month-on-month increase recorded in February.

The monthly decline in the confidence index in the construction sector slowed from 2.7 percent in February to 0.5 percent in March, TÜİK said.

The bank also reported on March 25 that the capacity utilization rate for the Turkish manufacturing industry saw an increase of 0.3 percentage points to 75.2 percent in March on a monthly basis.

Data posted that the highest utilization this month was 74.8 percent in intermediate goods, and the lowest rate was 72.1 percent in durable consumer goods.

Companies in the non-durable consumer goods manufacturing sector used 73.1 percent of their capacity in March, down from 73.5 percent in February.

In consumer goods, the capacity utilization rate was unchanged at 73 percent, while in the food and beverages sector, the usage declined slightly from 74.7 percent to 74.2 percent.

Companies operating in the investment goods industry worked at 72 percent capacity, falling from 71.6 percent in February.

Broken down by sector, the highest capacity usage was in the manufacture of paper products at 84 percent, while the lowest, 61.2 percent, was in leather products.