EU dominates foreign investments to Turkey

ANKARA

Women workers are seen packing jugs with plastic tops at a local plant in Istanbul. Turkey’s rubber and plastic sector attracted $410 million in direct international investments in the first half of the year, official data show. Hürriyet photo

Some 77.8 percent of direct international investments in Turkey within the first six months of the year came from members of the European Union, Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan said yesterday in a written statement.

Among the largest investing countries was Britain with $2 billion, Austria with $1.4 billion and Luxembourg with $676 million invested between January and June, he said.

Total investments soared by 21 percent year on year in the first six months reaching $8.2 billion, he said. “The growth figure confirms that Turkey is a safe haven for direct investments,” he said.
The manufacturing industry attracted the most investment, the minister said.

“Some $3.1 billion of direct international investments were made in the manufacturing industry in the January to June period, with food and beverage manufacturing taking the first place. Rubber and plastic products manufacturing took second place, attracting $410 million worth investments. The amount of direct international investments was $1.3 billion in the construction industry and $715 million in the banking and finance industry,” he said.

The number of the international companies established in the period was 620, while 79 domestic companies accepted international capital.

A total of 30,333 foreign companies were active in Turkey as of the end of June 2012, 52 percent of which had partner companies from the European Union.

Germany led the way in terms of the number of companies operating in Turkey with 4,918 followed by Britain at 2,369 and the Netherlands at 2,014. Of the foreign companies in Turkey, 6,546 of them are from Middle Eastern countries.

“The new incentive scheme will be the most effective tool to increase international direct investment inflow,” Çağlayan said.

Production boost in plastics

The Turkish plastics industry expects to increase total domestic production to 7.4 million tons with a production value of $31 billion by the end of the year, Federation of Plastics Industrialists (PLASFED) President Selçuk Aksoy said yesterday.The plastics sector, one of the fastest growing industries in Turkey, is in the third place in Europe in terms of production capacity, he said, adding that the sector expected to grow 11 percent this year.