Turkey prevails with expansion
The Turkish cement market is fascinating for its fragmented setup, its attraction for international producers and its phenomenal export record. In the past decade, it has seen unprecedented capacity growth and with the government now keen to improve the country’s hydroelectric power potential and reconstruction of earthquake-affected areas, the cement market is still buoyant. Guney Arik of Oyak Cement Group, Turkey, looks at some of the key issues affecting the Turkish cement industry.
Now part of the Oyak Group, Aslan Çimento was founded in 1911 and was the first Turkish cement factory
Construction has always been at the forefront of the Turkish economy. The industry creates significant employment and activity in many sub-sectors like manufacturing, real estate activities and financial business. Construction activity constituted about six per cent of Turkey’s 1H11 GDP, but the real impact is significantly more than meets the eye.
Developments in GDP closely affect the construction and cement sectors, where construction trails GDP growth but with larger digits, ie when positive growth is achieved, construction grows more than the average and when it stalls, construction contracts in greater proportions.
Figure 1: construction growth vs GDP growth in Turkey, 2002-11
