Turkey's cosmetics imports did not slow down despite the restriction on the installment for cosmetic products at the end of 2016, totaling $1.27 billion in 2017 and 2018.

The Turkish cosmetics sector achieved a total of $211.6 million in perfume imports during the five-year period covering 2014-2018, according to Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data.

Accordingly, perfume imports were recorded as $40.6 million in 2014, $40.3 million in 2015 and $40.4 million in 2016.

Although the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) imposed a ban on installments for cosmetic products in 2016, the perfume imports increased by 12.45 percent in 2017 to $45.4 million compared to the previous year.

Last year, perfume imports reached $44.9 million, thus amounting to a total of $90.3 million in 2017 and 2018, when cosmetic products were not sold in installments.

In the same period, the sector spent $3.1 billion on cosmetic imports including makeup, skin and hair care products, deodorants and perfumes. An analysis on the distribution of the amount spent for cosmetics imports by years reveals that the sector imports stood at $628.1 million in 2014, $577 million in 2015 and $593.4 million in 2016.

In 2017, when cosmetic products were sold without installments, imports equaled $661.5 million, followed by $614 million last year. With the BDDK's amendment on debit and credit cards in September 2016, the number of installments for cosmetic products purchases was reduced from nine to zero.