Turkish contractors granted $17.8 bln worth of projects abroad

ANKARA

Turkish contractors were awarded a total of 454 projects worth $17.8 billion in 2022, data from the Trade Industry have shown.

The average size of the projects granted to Turkish companies abroad was $39.2 million.

Russia was the largest market for local companies doing business in foreign countries. Last year, the volume of projects Turkish assumed in Russia was more than $2 billion, accounting for 11.3 percent of the total. Azerbaijan and Iraq ranked second and third at $1.77 billion and $1.58 billion, respectively.

In 2021, Turkish contractors were granted a record $11 billion worth of projects in Russia, but this figure declined to $2 billion due to the war, Trade Minister Mehmet Muş said.

“The latest numbers reflect our companies’ efforts to diversify markets. Romania, Poland, Hungary and Tanzania are among the top 10 countries in the list,” Muş said, adding that the share of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was 36.7 percent last year. Europe and the Middle East accounted for 24.5 percent and 18.5 percent, taking the second and third spots, according to the minister.

The 12.7 percent share of Africa is an indication that Turkish contractors consolidate their presence in this continent, Muş commented.

“Now our targets should be Western Europe, the American continent and the Asia-Pacific region.”

Highway/tunnel/bridge construction works generated the highest revenue for Turkish contractors abroad at $4.27 billion in 2022, followed by housing and railway projects at $3.5 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively. Petrochemicals facilities and factories ranked fourth ($1.15 billion) and fifth ($1.11 billion), respectively.

Last year, 42 Turkish companies made it to the ENR’s top 250 international contractors list, up from 40 firms in the previous year. Revenues of those 42 companies from international projects amounted to $20.4 billion in 2022 or 5.1 percent of the revenues of all companies on the list.

Between 1972 and 2022, Turkish contractors undertook 11,605 projects in 133 countries, with a total worth of $471.7 billion.