Headline: Stunning Growth: Factories in Industrial Zones Surge from 11,000 to 58,000

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Headline: Stunning Growth: Factories in Industrial Zones Surge from 11,000 to 58,000

The Minister of Industry and Technology, Mehmet Fatih Kacır, stated, "We have transformed our country into a global production hub with our organized industrial zones, which we have increased from 191 to 362, and the 45 industrial zones we have established. The number of factories operating in these zones rose from 11,000 to 58,000. Employment in these zones increased from 415,000 to 2.7 million." At the Istanbul Chamber of Industry's (ISO) regular October assembly meeting, Minister Kacır highlighted Turkey's significant development and growth momentum over the past 22 years. Emphasizing the increase in the number of organized industrial zones (OSBs), he noted that employment surged from 415,000 to 2.7 million.

"We have turned our country into a global production hub," Kacır remarked concerning the rise in industrial zones, affirming the increase in organized industrial zones from 191 to 362 and the establishment of 45 industrial zones.

"The number of factories in OSBs has increased from 11,000 to 58,000," Kacır pointed out, mentioning that the industrial sector has spearheaded export growth, with the workforce in the industry rising from 3.9 million to 6.7 million and exports increasing from $36 billion to $262 billion, positioning Turkey as a global production hub.

"Our priorities: value-added production, green and digital transformation," Kacır shared upcoming plans, stating, "Our three primary priorities in the coming period are value-added production, green and digital transformation. Elevating Turkish industry on these three pillars and increasing its competitiveness by sustaining high-tech and value-added production while achieving green and digital transformation is at the top of our agenda."

Regarding investment support, Kacır noted, "We continuously update and implement our support instruments to fit the needs and conditions of our industry. We launched the Technology-Oriented Industry Move Program, which establishes an end-to-end, comprehensive support mechanism from R&D to mass production for high-tech investments. We have activated investments worth 102 billion lira in fields such as machinery, mobility, structural transformation in production, health, chemical products, and digital transformation. We continue to evaluate projects that have applied under the Call for Rising Innovative Technologies, which garnered significant interest from our industrialists."

Speaking on the Investment Commitment Against Advance Credit (YTAK) Program, Kacır detailed, "The program is structured with a technology focus. We provide over 20-point advantage Turkish lira financing for high-tech investments with a 2-year grace period and 10-year maturity. We identified a Strategic Priority Product List of 284 items and a Technology Areas List of 261 headings. The Central Bank allocated 300 billion lira for the Program, and as the Ministry of Industry and Technology, we assumed responsibility for evaluating investment projects. So far, 247 projects exceeding a total investment value of 1.284 trillion lira have applied to this program, which seeks to enhance international competitiveness and support the national economy. We calculated the Technology/Strategy Score for 28 projects, and among them, 21 projects with a total investment value of 205 billion lira were deemed suitable for making loan applications by the evaluation committee."

"This month, we are opening unused industrial areas in our OSBs to investor allocation applications through an online platform," Kacır continued. "From June 2023 to October 2024, we established 11 new OSBs and expanded the spaces of our OSBs and Industrial Zones by 4,962 hectares. Additionally, we declared 25 industrial zones in earthquake areas covering 7,234 hectares. A key step was significant changes to the OSB regulation announced last month. As part of these adjustments to ease access to industrial areas and establish a rule-based, transparent governance model, we are opening all free industrial areas in our OSBs for investor allocation via an online platform on the first Monday of each month. Additionally, we conduct pre-allocation applications, allowing new OSBs to acquire the resources they need for rapid expropriation and infrastructure construction. This month, we opened 1,484 investment sites measuring 20 million square meters for allocation in 133 OSBs alongside 2 million square meters in 6 OSBs for pre-allocation. In the first two weeks alone, applications were submitted for 344 investment sites for allocation in 73 OSBs and 63 investment sites for pre-allocation in 6 OSBs. We will continue this well-received initiative with determination."

"We started seeing results in the fight against inflation," Kacır remarked on inflation goals. "Long-term stability achieved through maintaining efforts will support healthy growth in our fight against inflation. We have started seeing results. Annual inflation rose to 75% in May and fell to 49% last month. It is projected to be between 41-42% by the end of the year. Looking closely, we see that goods inflation is decreasing more rapidly while rigidity is more apparent in services inflation. We will maintain our determination to reduce inflation below 20% next year and below 10% the year after."