Markets to explore: Turkey

The collaboration between ICE-Agency and Edizioni Dativo, the column dedicated to Italian companies operating in packaging and with a careful eye to the possibility of growth abroad.

Turkey: packaging and converting
The Turkish economy grew by 4.9% over the past decade, with a flow of exports which reached 158 billion dollars in 2014.
The converting packaging and wrapping industry (sectors that in Turkey are included in a single line of production) has had an annual average growth of 16.6%.
Analysing the per capita consumption of packaging, Turkey shows a strong growth potential for the years to come: from the current 190 USD forecasts speak of a target of 300 USD per capita in 2023. In this sense the country is still underdeveloped compared to major world markets, led by Japan with 550 USD, North America and Europe, however, the demographic trend, the change in living conditions, rapid urbanization, the diversification of consumer goods, the increase in exports (especially consumer goods) are supporting a growing demand for packaging.
The growth of the industry has gone along with the evolution of buying habits, especially in big cities: increased investment in advertising for products, packaging graphics, the boom in sales of canned food and frozen food, clothing and disposable medical supplies have been instrumental in the expansion of the packaging sector.

Self-sufficiency in packaging and import of raw materials. With a total output of around 7 million tons, a total volume of sales of over $ 16 billion, packaging has been among the sectors to be less affected by the crisis of 2009 and the recession in 2013.
In Turkey 50% of output is used for packaging food and beverage, 20-30% for other consumer products and 20-30% for industrial products, in line with the trend of world output.
There are about 3,000 companies - mainly small and medium-sized - manufacturers of packaging materials, mostly located in western Turkey.

Sector exports show a growing trend, standing at 4 billion dollars in 2014, and the main markets are the EU, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the CIS regions.
In view of the fact that the packaging & converting industry in Turkey is structured and self-sufficient, there are no large import volumes of finished packaging products.
However, there are significant flows of raw materials and semi-finished products for the packaging industry, for a value of 3 billion dollars in 2014. 

The project is coordinated from the ICE-Agenzia headquarters in Rome, out of the Office of Engineering, Chemicals, Energy and Environment, directed by Alessandro Liberatori. Management representative: Matteo Masini, tel. 06.5992.9356, email: [email protected]