Turkey Financial News

Posted by meb at August 28th, 2008

Foreign investors have been pleased with the announcement that Turkey will scrap 700,000 tractors that are over 20 years old, a measure that has been ordered by the government.

Fazlı Özaltın, vice president of the Turkish Farming Devices Manufacturers Assembly, told the Anatolia news agency that the Industry and Commerce Ministry has started work on scrapping the old tractors. “Some Turkish farmers had been using the same tractors for 53 years, and they still use very old ones. The tractors that Turkish farmers use are relatively old when compared to those in Europe,” Özaltın noted. Underlining that a great demand will emerge in the Turkish tractor market with the handover of 700,000 old tractors, Özaltın asserted that for this reason alone more than 30 foreign companies had decided to invest in Turkey in the last two years. “They want to profit from this situation in Turkey,” he said, referring to foreign investors. (more…)

Posted by meb at August 27th, 2008

Turkey’s car exports to the world’s major oil producing and exporting countries increased tremendously in the first seven months, while a slowdown was seen in exports to the European market.

Turkey’s total automotive exports rose 40.9 percent to $15.94 billion in the given period compared to the same period a year ago, the latest figures by the Uludağ Exporters’ Union (UİB) have shown. There are some countries, however, to which Turkey’s auto sales increased at rates varying between 108 percent and 445 percent. Parallel to the unprecedented increase in the wealth and prosperity of oil producing countries, which enjoyed billions of petrodollars as a barrel of oil climbed to as high as $150, the demand of oil-rich nations’ citizens for cars saw a significant increase, as well. Auto sales to the Russian market amounted to $1 billion in the first seven months, increasing 108 percent over the same period of the previous year. (more…)

Posted by meb at August 15th, 2008

Turkish Airlines, or THY, enjoyed strong growth in the first seven months of the year, enjoying record growth after a partnership with Star Alliance commenced in April.

Turkish Airlines, or THY, grew 11 percent in domestic lines, 20 percent in international lines and 15.4 percent in total within the first seven months of the year, Temel Kotil, general manager of THY, announced in Istanbul on Tuesday. “Joining Star Alliance, whose member carriers transport some 30 percent of all air travelers in the world, in April, provided a 42.9 percent record increase in the number of transit passengers of THY in the first seven months of 2008,” said Kotil. “The income from sales constituted 73 percent of the aggregate sales last year. This figure increased to 75 percent in the first seven months of this year,” said Kotil. (more…)

Posted by meb at August 14th, 2008

Turkish Airlines is interested in principle in becoming a strategic partner in Austrian Airlines, the Turkish flag carrier’s chief executive told broadcaster CNBC-E on Wednesday.
“We are interested in principle in the stake sale of Austrian Airlines … But we have not taken a decision on this,” Chief Executive Temel Kotil said in the interview.

Austria has set August 24 as the deadline for investors to express their interest in submitting a bid for to purchase the state’s share of Austrian Airlines. (more…)

Posted by meb at August 7th, 2008

Sales of passengers cars and light commercial vehicles in Turkey shrank by 11.2 percent year-on-year in July to 42,156 units, the Automotive Distributors’ Association said on Thursday.

Turkish automotive sales drop 11.2 pct in July.

Passenger car sales fell 9.6 percent and light commercial vehicle sales dropped 13.6 percent during July.

In the first seven months of the year, total industry sales rose 8.7 percent to 305,206 units, sustaining strong growth in the sector which has made it a key element of Turkey’s industry and export base in recent years. (more…)

Posted by meb at August 1st, 2008

TAV Havalimanları Holding, the operator of Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport, said it plans to bid to operate Latvia’s Riga airport. The Istanbul-based company created a unit with Latvian construction firm SIA Skonto Buve and applied to take part in the tender, according to a filing with the bourse yesterday.

Meanwhile, national carrier Turkish Airlines, or THY, denied a report in Sabah newspaper that it bid for Austrian Airlines Group. (more…)

Posted by meb at July 11th, 2008

Turkey saw a 31.8 percent increase in the production of vehicles in the first six months of 2008 compared to the same period last year.

According to a statement released by the Automotive Industry Association (OSD) yesterday, 708,962 vehicles were produced between January and June, while 537,955 had been produced in the same period last year.

A total of 113,168 automobiles were produced last month, indicating a 1.6 percent decrease compared with the same month last year. Total production, however, increased by 12.9 percent in the first six months of the year over the same period last year. (more…)

Posted by meb at June 24th, 2008

Volkswagen, the world’s fifth-largest automotive producer, may invest more than 1 billion euros within the next few years to start production in Turkey, said the chairman of Doğuş Otomotiv, VW’s distributor in Turkey.

Volkswagen will come to Turkey sooner or later, said Aclan Acar, who met with various newspapers’ economy desk chiefs last Friday just before the opening of the Doğuş Meiller Damper Factory. Doğuş Holding Chairman Ferit Şahenk was also present at the event to comment further on the group’s investment plans. (more…)