Turkish manufacturing capacity utilization rate down in December

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The capacity utilization rate of the Turkish manufacturing sector was at 77.3% in December, down 0.2 percentage point from the previous month.

Official Central Bank figures on Tuesday showed that the highest capacity utilization in December was in investment goods at 77.4%, and the lowest was in non-durable consumer goods at 72.3%.

On the sectoral side, the highest capacity usage was in the manufacture of tobacco products and tobacco products, both at 87.9%, while the lowest rate of 62.9% was in leather products.

Capacity utilization rate figures are based on responses to a business tendency survey of local units operating in the manufacturing industry.

The Turkish Central Bank said 1,735 companies responded to the survey this month, and the data did not reflect the bank's views or predictions.