Turkey's
White Goods Manufacturers Association data show that country's domestic
white goods sales continued falling in December. Monthly domestic sales slumped 10% to 366'257 units from 408'677 units a month ago. In contrast, December data was 17% higher compared to 314'316 units a year ago.
In December, refrigerator and dishwasher sales recorded the highest month-on-month contraction rates of 8% and 10% respectively, while only oven sales posted a slight growth rate of 2%.
Consequently, 2004 total domestic
white goods sales for refrigerators, dishwashers, ovens and washing machines rose by 64% to 5.04 million units from 3.07 million units in 2003.
Economists believe that pent-up demand played a crucial role in the strong growth rate in 2004. In addition, domestic demand is expected to show a modest growth in the coming years.
2005
white goods sales are projected to reach 4.4 million units and the demand figure for January is expected to be 280'000 units.
A 10% drop-off of exports in December did not help producers compensate the fall in domestic demand. On the other hand, overall exports reached 7.21 million units in 2004.
Under these conditions, December data mark a contraction in the
white goods demand in 2005. However, investors are prepared for a contraction as they have estimated a decline in demand for a long period of time following strong sales figures in 2004.