The Turkish White Goods Manufacturers’ Association (TURKBESD) has announced the sector’s production, sales and export figures for 2025. According to its data, the white goods sector experienced a contraction in both the domestic and foreign markets in 2025, while export volumes fell back to 2017 levels. Alper Şengül, TURKBESD chairman, warned that the gains achieved over the past ten years are at risk of being lost.
In 2025, the white goods sector’ domestic sales across six main product groups declined by three percent year on year, while the downward trend in exports observed in recent years continued, with exports falling by 10 percent year on year. Mr. Şengül said, “As a sector that exports around 70 percent of its production, we need export-supporting policies more than ever to ensure that these losses do not become permanent.” The continued decline in exports was also reflected in production, with the 2025 output decreasing by nine percent year on year.
Mr. Şengül noted that rising input, energy and financing costs, along with uncertainties in trade policies, have weakened competitiveness. He added that low-cost products from Far Eastern producers gaining market share in overseas markets have placed additional pressure on the sector. Şengül emphasized that ongoing and newly initiated antidumping investigations in certain product groups carry the risk of further increasing already high input costs.
Input costs and antidumping warning
Mehmet Yavuz, vice chairman of TURKBESD, stated that ongoing antidumping investigations into flat steel products, which account for approximately 17 percent of input costs in the white goods sector, directly affect sectoral costs.
Stressing that concluding the investigations into cold rolled, galvanized and pre-painted steel sheets without the imposition of measures is critical for the sector’s competitiveness and export capacity, Mr. Yavuz noted that some of these products have technical specifications that cannot be met by domestic production and can only be sourced through imports in specific quality grades and dimensions.
Mr. Yavuz said, “Keeping input costs at reasonable and predictable levels is vital for our sector to maintain competitiveness, sustain export capacity and preserve employment. Otherwise, the introduction of an additional duty as a result of these investigations, on top of existing customs duties, will weaken our competitiveness in both the domestic and international markets.”