Industrial free zone turnover is on the rise

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Turkey’s industrial free zones registered a 9.1 percent increase in trade turnover in the January to July period year-over-year, to $13.5 billion up from $12.3 billion, according to data released by the economy ministry.

The Aegean industrial free zone had the highest trade turnover, at $3.2 billion from $2.4 billion in the same period last year. The Mersin industrial free zone followed on the heels of the Aegean with a 57 percent increase in trade turnover year-over-year, registering $2.3 billion in trade turnover. The industrial free zone that registered the sharpest increase from a year earlier, however, was the Kocaeli industrial free zone, which saw a 131 percent jump in trade turnover.

However, the industrial free zone in the southeastern province of Mardin witnessed a 100 percent decline in trade from January to March 2011. Its trade turnover last year was $2.3 million, but this year many of the firms in the region have put an end to their activities, so Mardin has seen zero trade activity.

Meanwhile, 40 percent of all trade activity in Turkey’s industrial free zones was conducted in the domestic market. Of the $13.5 billion in trade activity, $5.3 billion was comprised of the internal market trade, while $4.9 billion in trade was conducted with OECD and European Union countries. An additional $1.19 billion in trade was conducted with North Africa and the Middle East, $655.5 million with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), $16.5 billion with non-EU European countries, and $1.4 billion with other countries in the world, according to the data.

On a sector basis, 95 percent of the turnover in the industrial free zones was comprised of industrial sector activity at $12.9 billion. The remaining $548 million was agricultural trade turnover and $26.5 million was mining activity.