Industrial production up 3.8 percent in October

ANKARA

Turkey’s calendar-adjusted industrial production index increased by 3.8 percent in October from a year ago, data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) showed on Dec. 13.

Industrial output dropped 0.9 percent on a monthly basis, the seasonally and calendar-adjusted data also showed.

Industrial output is considered a vital indicator for the economy, as it is seen as a preliminary gauge for gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

In the key manufacturing sector, production rose 3.7 percent on an annual basis in October, while the mining and quarrying industry saw its output rise 6.5 percent in the month from a year earlier.

Data from the statistics authority also showed that production in the electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning sector increased by 1.2 percent.

The country’s intermediate goods production jumped 4.2 percent on an annual basis while energy output increased 8.4 percent.

On a seasonally and calendar-adjusted basis, production in the intermediate goods manufacturing sector increased 0.3 percent in October from November while output in the energy sector fell 0.8 percent month-on-month.

Durable consumer goods production showed a 5.1 percent annual decline, but capital goods manufacturing industry boosted its output 3 percent in October compared to the same month of 2018.

TÜİK also reported that non-durable consumer goods production increased 4.9 percent on an annual basis.

According to data from the statistics authority, the high technology sector’s output rose 8.8 percent and medium-high technology sector’s production jumped 7 percent.

The London-based IHS Markit reported on Dec. 2 that Turkey’s headline PMI (purchasing managers’ index) climbed to 49.5 in November from 49 in October, pointing to an uptick in production for the first time in over a year-and-a-half.

Manufacturing production increased fractionally in November, with panelists generally attributing this to improving market conditions, the PMI survey showed.

“Based on the relationship between the PMI and official industrial production data, we should be looking at year-on-year growth in production when November figures are released,” said Andrew Harker, associate director of IHS Markit, on the November PMI data.