Turkish manufacturing capacity usage edges down

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - The capacity utilization rate (CUR) in the Turkish manufacturing industry slightly fell on a monthly basis in March, the country's Central Bank announced Friday.

Local manufacturing industry units operated at 74.7% of their capacity this month, down 0.2 percentage points from February, according to the bank survey.

CUR figures are based on the responses of local units to a business tendency survey.

A report by the Central Bank said that while some 1,758 companies responded to the survey this month, the monthly data did not reflect the bank's views or predictions.

Among the main industrial groups, CUR was highest in intermediate goods with 78.3%, while the lowest capacity usage was 70% in consumer goods.

On the sectoral side, the highest capacity usage was in the manufacturing of paper and paper products with 82.1% in the month, while the lowest was in the manufacture of beverages with 54.6%.