Turkish industrial production slows in April

Calendar-adjusted Industrial production rose by a calendar-adjusted 0.7 percent year-on-year in April, much slower than the 3 percent climb in the previous month. Analysts had expected a gain of around 3 percent for the month.

Seasonal and calendar-adjusted industrial production decreased by 1.1 percent in April compared to the previous month, according to TÜİK data. 

Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek said the data showed some slowdown in momentum but added that it would not be right to describe just one indicator as a trend. 

Şimşek vowed that the government would continue to work on a number of regulations supporting economic activity. 

“April industrial output did not give healthy signs for gross domestic growth, considering the fact that the probable strong growth of the first quarter was mainly affected by the high industrial production growth in the same period,” KapitalFx analyst Enver Erkan said, as quoted by Anadolu Agency.    

“We see that the industrial production index is very volatile. So the monthly adjusted change is positive in the first two months of 2016, then negative,” Erkan added. 

“We will probably see a strong monthly change in May industrial production,” he said. 

Industrial production showed a 5.6 percent year-on-year increase in the first quarter of the year and a 4.4 percent increase in the first four months on 2016. 

“We saw some shrinkage in industrial production activity in consumer durables and capital goods markets. The automotive sector also contracted in April. On the other hand, the export and the automotive data in May are optimistic. In this vein, it is quite probable to see a significant rise in industrial production in May, although the April data was weak,” said Garanti Investment’s chief economist Gizem Öztok Altınsaç, as quoted by Reuters. 

According to preliminary data from the Customs and Trade Ministry, Turkey’s exports rose by around 10 percent to $12.1 billion in May compared to the same month of 2015. The automotive market also showed 15.2 percent year-on-year growth in May after it contracted in April.