Manufacturing capacity usage up in March: Central Bank

ANKARA

Capacity utilization rate (CUR) in Turkey increased slightly to 77.3 percent this month, while the real sector confidence index slipped to 1.3 points to 108.5, according to data released by the Turkish Central Bank on March 25.

CUR of the manufacturing industry inched up by 0.7 percentage points from 76.6 percent in February, said the bank.
Seasonally adjusted CUR was 78.2 percent, up from 77.2 in February.

The CUR figures are based on the responses given to a business tendency survey by local units operating in the manufacturing industry, according to the bank.
The monthly data does not reflect the bank’s views or predictions, it said, adding that 1,761 companies responded to the survey in March.
Among the main industrial groups, the highest CUR was 78.7 for intermediate goods, while the lowest was 75 percent for durable consumer goods.

The Real Sector Confidence Index (RSCI), meanwhile, stood at 108.5 in March by a monthly decrease of 1.3 points.
Answers to questions on general course of business, export orders for the next three months, current stock of finished products and productions plans for the upcoming three months pushed down the index figure.
With the business tendency data, the Central Bank intends to produce indicators that will show short-term tendencies in the manufacturing industry, considering the assessments of the senior managers, about the recent past, current situation and their expectations regarding the future course of business conditions.
Confidence in key sectors in Turkey posted declines compared to last month, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) on March 25.

Among all sub-indices, the services sector suffered the most, falling 6.2 percent to 111.3 in March, as the business situation and demand-turnover over the past three months besides expectations for the next three months worsened.
The retail trade sector confidence index dropped 3.1 percent from last month to 116, driven by a decline in both the current stock volume and business activity-sales expectations.
The construction confidence index stood at 81 this month, down 2 percent from February.
Calculated from a monthly survey, the results are evaluated within a range of 0-200. Sectoral confidence indices signal an optimistic outlook when the value is above 100.

TÜİK will announce economic confidence index data on March 30.
Seasonally adjusted consumer confidence index calculated from the results of the consumer tendency survey carried out in cooperation with the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) and the Turkish Central Bank increased by 1.9 percent in March compared to the previous month.