Manufacturing capacity usage at 77.4 percent

ANKARA

The unadjusted the capacity utilization rate (CUR) in the manufacturing sector inched up from 77.3 percent in September to 77.4 percent in October, the Central Bank has said.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the CUR, however, declined slightly from 76.9 percent to 76.8 percent.

In the consumer goods sector, companies worked at 73.8 percent capacity, up from September’s 73.3 percent, while in the intermediate goods sector, the CUR remained unchanged at 76.2 percent, data from the Central Bank showed on Oct. 25.

In capital goods manufacturing sector, the capacity usage improved from 78.3 percent to 78.8 percent.

The Central Bank separately reported on Oct. 25 that business morale deteriorated for the fifth time in a row in October.

The real sector confidence index dropped from 104.4 in September to 103.3.

Any index value above 100 indicates optimism among businesses.

The sub-index of the general business situation retreated from 93.1 to 92.8, while the index of output volume in the next three months plunged from 113.2 to 108.5.

Data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), also released on Oct. 25, showed that the confidence in the services sector rose 0.5 percent month-on-month in October, after declining 2 percent in the previous month.

In the retail sector, confidence, which increased 3 percent in September, dropped 3.3 percent in October. Business morale in the construction sector improved 0.9 percent after rising 1 percent.