According to the statistics released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) on November 11, the capacity utilization rate in Turkey's manufacture of basic metals in October was 75.1 percent, mainly due to lack of demand in local and export markets, compared to a capacity utilization rate of 74 percent in October 2008 and 71.5 percent in September this year.
Meanwhile, the capacity utilization rate in the country's manufacture of fabricated metal products in October was 68.9 percent, down from 73.3 percent recorded in October last year and up from 68.2 percent in September this year.
In October this year, the output of the domestic basic metal industry increased by 3.8 percent, raw material prices for the industry in question saw a slight decrease of 0.7 percent, while sales increased by 3.9 percent, all compared to the previous month.
As regards the manufacture of fabricated metal products, in October the output increased by 2.9 percent, raw material prices increased by 0.2 percent and sales rose by 2.2 percent, all compared to September.
On the other hand, the output in the manufacture of basic metals in Turkey is forecast to increase by 2.3 percent in November, while sales are expected to increase by 3.5 percent for this industry in the same month, both compared to October. The raw material prices for the manufacture of basic metals are foreseen to decrease by 0.9 percent month on month in November.