Turkey: Oil refiner Tupras tops industrial enterprises

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) – The energy giant Tupras reclaimed the title of biggest industrial enterprise in Turkey in a list announced by the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO) on Monday.

According to the 2019 survey, oil refiner Tupras retained the leadership with production-based sales worth 87.95 billion Turkish liras ($14.48 billion) in the list of Turkey’s Top 500 Industrial Enterprises.

International auto manufacturer Ford was the second-biggest company with production-based sales of 37.07 billion Turkish liras ($6.52 billion), followed by automaker Toyota in the third place with 25.85 billion Turkish liras ($4.55 billion).

Oyak-Renault, another car producer, was the fourth company in the list with 24.6 billion Turkish liras ($4.33 billion), while oil refinery Star Rafineri, which entered the list for the first time this year, was the fifth largest industrial company in 2019 with 20.83 billion Turkish liras ($3.66 billion).

Established in 1983, Tupras has been leading the list for years.

The survey revealed that the total production-based sales of industry giants posted an annual increase of 16.4% -- the lowest rise during the last three years -- to exceed 1 trillion Turkish liras ($176 billion).

Last year, one US dollar traded for 5.68 Turkish liras on average, compared to 4.82 in 2018.

ISO 500 companies’ exports rose 2.4% last year to $73.5 billion, making up 42% of Turkey's total industrial exports.

Erdal Bahcivan, the head of ISO, said the industrial companies' performance slowed in 2019 due to drop in domestic demand, inflation and the global trade, and fall in commodity prices.

Meanwhile, middle-high and high technologies' share in added-value, produced by firms in the list, exceeded the 30% level and reached 30.4% in 2019, he underlined.

"This increase stemmed especially from defense and aviation sectors, which developed significantly during the last years," he said.

He also stated that research and development expenses of the top 500 firms went up 152% in 2019 to reach 9.7 billion Turkish liras ($1.7 billion).

The ISO has been announcing data on Turkey’s top 500 companies since 1968.