Tüpraş, Ford, Toyota top Turkey’s industrial enterprise lineup
Tu00fcprau015f refinery (Sabah File Photo)


Turkish refinery giant Tüpraş topped the list of Turkey's Top 500 Industrial Enterprises 2017 survey released Wednesday by the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO).

According to the survey, Tüpraş's production-based sales last year totaled 51.1 billion Turkish liras ($14 billion).

International car manufacturer Ford was the second-biggest company with production-based sales of TL 22.7 billion ($6.2 billion), followed by automaker Toyota, which rose from sixth to third with TL 17.8 billion ($4.9 billion).

Three other automobile manufacturers, Tofaş, Oyak-Renault, Hyundai Assan, made it into the top 10.

Steel producers Isdemir, Erdemir and Içdaş Çelik, and appliance manufacturer Arçelik were the other firms in the top 10.

While this year Isdemir and Erdemir rose to seventh and eighth places, respectively, Turkey's largest electric power producer Elektrik Üretim A.Ş. dropped from seventh to 18th place in 2017.

The survey said the total production-based sales of industry giants posted their highest growth in 13 years, up 33.2 percent year-on-year, to reach TL 653 billion ($178.9 billion).

The growth stemmed from the hike in exchange rates, which plays an important role in export revenues, along with growing domestic and foreign demand.

ISO 500 companies' exports also surged 17 percent last year to $64.5 billion, making up 42.8 percent of Turkey's total industrial exports.

Ford was the top exporting companies, recording nearly $4.80 billion of exports in 2017. Toyota followed with $4.59 billion, Tofaş with $3.27 and Oyak-Renault with $3.18 billion.

Financial expenses, which continue to be the main determinant of profitability, increased by 21.3 percent to TL 35.2 billion from TL 29 billion and accounted for more than half of the operating profit of industrial enterprises.

The number of firms in the 2017 ISO 500 that made profits rose to 422 from 392.

ISO has rated Turkey's top 500 companies since 1968.