Industrial production increased 2.4 percent in May compared to the same month of 2014, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said in a statement yesterday. The improvement exceeded analysts' forecasted average of 0.9 percent to 1.5 percent. Analysts attributed the rise in production to demand for Turkish intermediate goods in Germany. They said that in 2013, the pick-up in the German economy, and the eurozone in general, helped Turkey reach its 4 percent growth target. This year, the German economy is leading the recovery in the eurozone again and if the German economy can sustain its strength into the second half of the year, it may further boost both Turkish production and the economy. Additionally, the manufacturing index increased 3 percent year-on-year. In the subsectors of the manufacturing index, the highest increase was in the repair and installation of machinery and equipment index, up 33.6 percent. This was followed by the production of Coca-Cola and the refined petroleum products index, which rose 22.2 percent. The electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply indexes increased 3.8 percent from May 2014. The largest decrease was in the manufacturing of computer, electronic and optical products, down 34.8 percent, followed by the manufacture of other transport equipment, which dropped 24.7 percent, and the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-truck trailers, down 12.2 percent in May 2015 compared to the previous month.
