Page 48 - TURKRptMay20

Auto sales moved up to 50,008 units. Passenger car sales rose 3% y/y to 39,887 units while light commercial vehicle (LCV) sales fell 4.5% y/y to 10,121 units.
“The real-time economic and market disruption from the coronavirus means that much of the data released during the past month offers little insight into current developments in the emerging world,” Capital Economics said on March 27 in a note entitled “First EM GDP contraction in post-war era”.
“Turkey's auto sales showed the first signs of a notable slowdown in March, which we attribute to the effect of the spread of COVID-19,” Vladimir Bespalov of VTB Capital said in a research note.
Much more severe​. VTB anticipated that the auto market would take a much more severe hit in the coming months.
“Visibility on the potential effect of COVID-19 on supply and demand remains poor... [while] a potential prolonged decline in the Turkish and European auto markets is the key risk,” Bespalov added.
9.1.3 ​Construction & Real estate sector news
Home sales, which rose more than 51% y/y in February, only saw a moderate 3.4% y/y increase to 109,000 units in March​, ​data​ from official statistics authority TUIK have shown.
Mortgage-financed home sales increased 90% y/y in March, easing from the extraordinary 392% y/y rise seen in the previous month to 44,000 units.
TUIK also reported that home sales in January-March stood at 340,000 units, marking a 33% rise on an annual basis. Mortgage-financed home sales jumped 239% y/y to 130,000 units.
Oil producing countries account for some 75% of Turkish contractors’ international revenues​, Dunya business daily reported.
“Last year we raised $19bn from international contracts and this year’s target was $20bn. If oil prices remain low, we may not secure new contracts. Even worse, local firms may not be able to collect their receivables from those countries,” said Mithant Yenigun, head of the Turkish Contractors’ Union.
“Some projects in those countries have been suspended. We need to wait until the end of May to see where things are heading,” Yenigun added.
Yenigun noted that Kazakhstan, Russia and Uzbekistan as well as Iraq and Libya are other major markets for the Turkish construction companies.
He conceded that political turmoil in Iraq and Libya were causing significant problems for Turkish contractors.
9.1.4​ Agriculture sector news
Turkey annually produces 19-20mn tonnes of wheat​. That only just about meets its own needs, and the country may need to limit its flour and pasta exports, Ali Ekber Yildirim wrote on March 31 in a column for business daily Dunya entitled “Agricultural export bans of the corona days”.
Turkey imported around 10mn tonnes of wheat in 2019, with around 80% sourced from Russia. On March 20, Moscow placed a 10-day ban on wheat exports.
48​ TURKEY Country Report​ May 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com