
According to figures provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK – TurkStat), Turkey’s seasonal and calendar-adjusted industrial production index plummeted 7.1% in March 2020 from the previous month of February. Ths fall was clearly as a result of the coronavirus pandemic spreading to Turkey in March 2020, forcing many businesses to temporarily halt or reduce production because of the collapse in demand and/or the need to implement social distancing. Despite the lockdown of the Turkish population in general, it has been the policy of the Turkish government to ensure that companies continue to operate and that the economy continues to function wherever possible. The industrial production index is likely to fall further in April, during which isolation measures were in force for the full month.
The calendar-adjusted industrial production index decreased by 2% in March 2020 compared with the figure of the same month of the previous year. The term "calendar-adjusted" is used to refer to data from which calendar and holiday related effects have been removed.
Compared with the previous month of February, the seasonal and calendar-adjusted sub-indices performed as follows: the mining and quarrying index decreased by 2.2%, the manufacturing index decreased by 7.5%, and the electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply index decreased by 5.7% in March 2020.
Compared with the same month of the previous year, the calendar-adjusted three sub-indices performed as follows: the mining and quarrying index decreased by 5.6%, the manufacturing index decreased by 1.9%, and the electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply index decreased by 0.9% in March 2020.
Turkey’s industrial production index is seen as an important measurement tool in that it provides a useful indicator of GDP growth.
As from January 2018, the calculation of the industrial production index prepared by TurkStat has been changed with the reference year now being 2015 rather than 2010. Turkstat claims that the new calculation base comprises more comprehensive data from a larger number of companies.
In a statement published on March 16th, 2018, TurkStat said that “The 2010=100 based Industrial Production Index, which was published between 2013 and 2017, was calculated using survey data from approximately 5,000 companies. As of March 2018, Revenue Administration micro data has been used to produce more comprehensive data sets, to reduce respondent burden and to make public resources more efficient. The Industrial Production Index with 2015=100 reference year is calculated with the production values from approximately 7,000 companies and the production value estimates obtained from the sales of more than 300,000 firms from the Revenue Administration.”