Hürriyet Daily reported that Turkey’s industrial production posted an annual increase of 10.4% in March although seasonally adjusted figures showed that there was actually a decline in output, signaling that the Central Bank’s measures to cool down the economy could be working.

According to data released by the Turkish Statistics Institute, the manufacturing of capital goods surged the most by 26% compared to March 2010. Durable consumer goods followed with rise of 14.2%. The rises in intermediary good and nondurable good production were 7% and 3.5% respectively.

Looking into the subsections of manufacturing, leather related goods production rose by 39.7%. The annual rise in electronics products, printing and reproduction of recorded media and refined petroleum was 20.2%, 29.6% and 25.8% respectively.

Oyak Securities said that with strong export performance in March at USD 11.8 billion, export oriented sectors come out as the main contributors. However, analysts said the share of imports in intermediary goods could still be robust.

Mr Banu Kıvcı Tokalı deputy GM of Destek Securities said that “Seasonally adjusted figures show that the production index has been falling for the past two months. After 1.7% fall in February, the decline in March was 0.3%. One may expect that this trend will become more pronounced as the effects of monetary policy measures are observed better. April data to be announced next month could show a significant slowdown.”

(Sourced from www.hurriyetdailynews.com)