Turkey: TUPRAS becomes local export champion of 2014

ANKARA 

Turkey’s energy giant TUPRAS was named the country’s exports champion in 2014, while partnering foreign carmakers dominated the top 10 list of leading exporters, according to a survey by the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TIM).

The company exported $3.7 billion worth of petroleum products last year, down from $4.1 billion in 2013 and $5.42 billion in 2012.

The energy giant captured a 56.4 percent share of the petroleum products market, excluding industrial products in Turkey. 

The company had a market share of 88 percent in jet fuel and 37 percent in diesel. In gasoline, almost all of the demand was met by TUPRAS. 

The top 10 Turkish exporting companies included four automotive, two white good makers and one export services company. One gas producer, German industrial conglomerate Bosch, ranks among them.

An award ceremony was organized by the Turkish Exporters Assembly on Sunday, attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan along with several cabinet ministers including Nihat Zeybekci, who is responsible for Turkey’s foreign trade.

On the top ten list, car makers Ford and Oyak Renault, a joint venture between Renault and Oyak -- the army pension fund -- followed oil refinery company TUPRAS.

Vestel, one of Turkey’s leading durable consumer goods makers, was in fourth place. Kibar Dis Ticaret, which exports the products of a number of private and state industrial enterprises and also imports raw materials for them, took the fifth spot in the country’s export champions list.

Arcelik, a durable consumer goods producer under Koc Holding, was in the sixth spot, followed by Italian automotive giant Fiat’s local partner, Tofas Turk Otomobil. 

Toyota Otomotiv took the eight place; Habas, an industrial gas producer and Bosch San. ve Tic. AS, the industrial conglomerate, came in ninth and tenth respectively.

Turkey’s exports increased some 4 percent in 2014 reaching $157.6 billion, according to the TIM. Exports from car sales reached $22.3 billion, followed by textiles and chemicals. Germany with $14.9 billion, Iraq with $10.7 billion, the U.K. with $9.7 billion, Italy with $7 billion and France with $6.4 billion topped the list of top markets.