SMEs account for 70 percent of employment, shows TÜİK data

ANKARA

There were a total of 3.7 million small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) operating in the industry and services sectors in Türkiye in 2023, constituting 99.7 percent of all enterprises.

Companies that employ less than 250 staff and whose annual net sales revenue does not exceed 500 million Turkish Liras are defined as SMEs.

SMEs accounted for 70.5 percent of employment, 47.4 percent of total turnover and 41.6 percent of production value, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

Some 36 percent of SMEs operated in the wholesale and retail trade, 15 percent in the transport and storage and 12.3 percent in the manufacturing industries.

While the average personnel cost per employee for SME enterprises was 8,000 liras in 2009, this increased to 149,000 in 2023.

SMEs accounted for 35 percent of total exports while their share in imports was 20 percent, the data showed.

Exports by those enterprises stood at $87 billion last year, up from $57 billion in 2013. Their imports climbed from $48 billion to $68 billion over the same period.

Europe was the largest export market for Turkish SMEs with 49.3 percent of their shipments going to European countries. Asian countries ranked second at 33.4 percent.

Some 91 percent of SMEs exports were manufacturing products. The shares of machinery, equipment and clothing were 11.5 percent and 10.9 percent, respectively. Textile and food products accounted for 7.5 percent of exports.