Insight

The Turkish market is known for its automotive, domestic appliance and other engineered product manufacturing and exporting capabilities, which has seen the Turkish fastener sector develop significantly over recent years. Here Mustafa Tecdelioğlu, chairman of BESİAD (the Turkish Fastener Manufacturers Association), talks about the development of the Turkish fastener market and how it has been impacted over the last two years, as well as opportunities for the future.

The last two years have been some of the most challenging ever in the history of the Turkish fastener sector, with the Covid-19 pandemic, as well

as wars around us, playing a major role in slowing down economies around the world. However, despite various difficulties the Turkish economy was able to grow by 11% last year. In addition, although the high devaluation of the Turkish Lira caused the periodical slowdown in the domestic market, the Turkish government helped resolve this problem quickly, which has seen the growth expectation for Turkey in 2022 set at 5%.

When we look at the Turkish fastener manufacturing sector, even with all the challenges outlined above, it has still grown by 10% over the last two years. The reason for this is the key sectors Turkish fastener manufacturers work with – automotive, white goods, furniture, machinery manufacturing, etc – have all shown a positive performance both in Turkey and globally. Another factor behind this growth is that the fastener industry in Turkey did not face raw material shortages during this period, unlike other countries across Europe.

However, Turkish fastener companies have faced significant challenges, such as the rising energy and freight costs, which have had a negative impact and caused losses in ongoing work and projects that have already been agreed – with many companies suffering from this situation.

Even with these challenges, Turkish fastener companies have still been able to attract new customers, whilst continuing to build strong relationships with existing customers. This is due to Turkish companies investing in their capabilities, such as expanding their production, supplying more value-added products, as well as ensuring their high-quality products are supported by a fast and reliable service.

Looking to the future, thanks to the good relationships our association’s board of directors has with other organisations, and the state, the future of our industry is positive and promising. The Turkish fasteners market currently produces around 1 million tonnes and the aim at BESİAD is to double this to 2 million tonnes in the next five years. Thanks to our ability to use domestic raw materials; our young labour force; as well as the infrastructure investments made over the last 20 years; we are confident the Turkish fastener market will be able to develop and achieve this target. BESİAD would also like to organise a fastener show again in Turkey in the future and will look to encourage our members to attend more fairs abroad. Members are also planning to develop the education and training they provide employees in our sector, so that we can further develop the knowledge of fasteners within Turkey and start training the next generation.