According to MAIB (Turkish Machinery) data, Türkiye’s machinery exports reached 28.3 billion dollars by the end of 2024, the highest annual export figure of all time.
According to the consolidated data of the machinery manufacturing industry announced by MAİB, Türkiye’s total machinery exports, including free zones, reached 28.3 billion dollars in 2024. Thus, the machinery sector broke a new record. While domestic and industrial cooling machines and internal combustion engines and parts were among the most exported machines in 2024, construction and mining machinery and washing and drying machines were other sub-branches that attracted attention. Machinery exports to Germany, the largest export market, amounted to 3 billion dollars. Exports to the USA increased to 1.8 billion dollars.
Kutlu Karavelioğlu, President of the Machinery Exporters’ Association, shared his expectations for the global machinery trade and Türkiye’s exports, predicting a year in which macro policy proposals will come to the fore against the environment of uncertainty inherited from the past. Karavelioğlu stated: “World machinery and equipment exports, which contracted by 1 percent in the previous year, closed 2024 with a 2 percent increase and a limited recovery thanks to the rise in machinery prices. The IMF’s forecast that the world economy will grow by 2.8 percent in 2025, remaining below its potential, indicates that machinery and equipment investments will not rise to the level of 5.5 trillion dollars in 2022 this year and that the losses in production will not be compensated.”
“New opportunities to test our competitiveness are on the horizon”
Pointing out that possible developments such as the reconstruction of Syria, Ukraine and Palestine with the support of international financial programs and the opening of the restricted Russian and Israeli markets create strong expectations for 2025 and beyond, Kutlu Karavelioğlu stated: “It is clear that the ceasefire or peace agreements that are eagerly awaited and hoped to end all sanctions will take time. Our revenue loss in Russia, where the contraction in our exports this year was 17.1 percent, reached 400 million dollars. The trade ban with Israel also had a negative impact of 250 million dollars on our machinery exports. When we take into account the efforts to increase the defense industry capacity of Europe, whose NATO assurance has decreased, new opportunities appear on the horizon where we will have the opportunity to test our competitiveness, which has strengthened a lot since the pandemic.”
“We are more optimistic for 2025”
Expressing their increased optimism for 2025, Karavelioğlu said: “Although commercial loan growth is still below target, we understand that there will be some easing depending on the course of inflation and that small and medium-sized enterprises will be supported through measures such as the Employment Protection Program and new financing opportunities. Positive developments, such as the reduction in interest costs for rediscount credits for exports and FX-earning services, help erase the pessimism of the last quarter of 2024. Nevertheless, at a time when manufacturing activity remains weak and the global machinery order index continues to slow down, it is clear that reversing the decline in machinery and equipment investments, which began contracting last year after 19 consecutive quarters of growth, will not be easy.”
