Free zones provide lucrative boost to Turkey’s trade figures
Turkey’s free trade zones enjoyed a significant leap in trade volume in the first quarter of 2008, engaging in $6.5 billion in transactions, a jump of 17.2 percent over the same period last year.
The largest share in total trade belonged to the İstanbul Leather Free Zone, which recorded $1.6 billion. The Aegean Free Zone saw $983.8 million in trade and was followed by the İstanbul Atatürk Airport’s duty-free services with $938.5 million.
According to figures provided by the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat the İstanbul Leather Free Zone saw $1.4 billion in trade in the first quarter of last year, the Aegean Free Zone’s trade score was $992.1 million and that of the Atatürk Airport $741.2 million.
The Mersin Free Zone’s trade volume saw a 32.2 percent increase over the previous year, jumping to $716.6 million. İstanbul’s Thrace Free Zone, on the other hand, suffered a 7 percent decline in the given period and fell to $530.6 million. Turkey’s sixth largest free zone, Bursa, however, enjoyed a 10.8 percent rise and reached $456.5 million in trade.
Trade deals in the free zones were usually finalized with companies from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries and the European Union, amounting to $2.5 billion. Other European countries had only a $7.5 million share, whereas members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) did $469.8 million worth of business with companies operating in Turkey’s free zones. Turkey’s newly rising customers in North Africa and Middle Eastern countries bought and sold $345.2 million of goods in these privileged areas.
The free zones’ contribution to employment is notable as the facilities in these reserved districts employed 46,764, with 38,323 as workers and 5,269 as office staff. The remaining 3,021 were employed for other reasons.
Free zones, also known as free trade zones, are special districts and adjoining ports reserved solely for trade of goods that are intended for reshipment free of any charges, including those of customs, taxes, duties, etc. National standards of quality are also not applied for goods traded in these areas.
source: Today’s Zaman
Tags: free trade zones Turkey