Page 48 - TURKRptFeb21

European and North American markets shrank. However, the Asian and South America markets' took more Turkish steel, covering the loss, he added.
The Turkish steel industry in 2021 is targeting approximately 23mn tonnes with a gain of 10%, while reaching $15bn in earnings on an increase in value of 15%.
Turkey's gold production rose to 42 tonnes in 2020 from 38 tonnes in 2019. Turkey to date has invested $6mn in its gold industry, which employs 13,200
people.
“The country started gold production in 2001 at a modest 1.4 tonnes and over the past 20 years some 382 tonnes of gold were produced, which helped Turkey obtain tax revenues equivalent to 76 tonnes of gold,” energy minister said.
Turkey imported $25.2bn worth of gold in 2020, marking a 123% increase from 2019.
Gold imports from US-sanctioned Venezuela continued to cause consternation among American officials.
A total of 18 gold mines are operating in Turkey.
8.2 Major corporate news 8.2.1 Oil & gas corporate news
8.2.2 Automotive corporate news
8.2.3 Transport corporate news
Azerbaijan national oil company SOCAR’s Turkish unit STAR Refinery aims to increase its oil refining volume by 6% y/y to 11mn tonnes in 2021 from 10.4mn tonnes in 2020.
Ford Otosan is constructing an electric vehicle battery assembly plant in the industrial province of Kocaeli.
Turkish Airlines served a total of 28mn passengers in the whole of 2020, marking a 62.4% decline from 2019.
The number of domestic passengers declined nearly 55% to 13.8mn while the international passenger tally plunged 68% y/y to 14.1mn.
The flag carrier’s latest financials showed that its revenues dropped 50% y/y to $4.96bn in the first nine months of 2020. It posted a net loss of $786mn for January-September versus a net income of $452mn for the same period a year earlier. In the third quarter of last year, the carrier’s revenues declined nearly 62% y/y to $1.5bn while it recorded a net loss of $132mn.
8.2.3 Retail corporate news
Migros opened 183 stores in 2020, up from the 160 target. Its total net sales area reached 1.58mn m2 at end-2020, up from 1.54mn at end-2019.
Migros as of end-2020 had 2,289 stores in Turkey.
48 TURKEY Country Report February 2021
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