Capacity utilisation in Turkey continues to increase
According to statistics revealed by State Institute of Statistics (SIS), August capacity utilisation rate (CUR) in Turkey is recorded as 79.1%, which is lower than the market expectation of 79.8%. However, the statistics show that over last year, capacity utilisation has continued to increase. For instance, CUR in manufacturing sector increased to 79.1% in August 2003, as compared to that of 76.4% recorded same month last year. It is stated that, when compared with the previous months, CUR seems to retreat slightly due to seasonal factors, however absolute rates are still high. The increase in CUR is mostly related with public sector, especially in heavy industry sectors. CUR rates of public sector has increased to 92.1% in August from 88.8% recorded in July, while CUR has decreased in private sector from 75.9% to 71%. This fall is stated to result from suspension of operations in automotive sector, however as the figures are seasonably calculated, the absolute rate for private sector is not to be released yet. Among the reasons for the companies'not working at full capacity, insufficiency of demand in local market with the rate of 57.7% is the primary factor, followed by insufficiency of demand in foreign market with the rate of 19.2%, insufficiency of raw materials in local goods with the rate of 3.4% and the problems resulting from the employees with the rate of 2.8%. According to evaluation submitted by State Institiute of Statistics for September shows that; in production, 30.2% of large scale manufacturing industrial establishments expect an increase and 41% expect a decrease; in domestic sales, 31.7% of the same establishments expect an increase, 34.7% expect a decrease and in sale prices 18.4% expect an increase, 18.5% expect a decrease.