Turkish Forum

Category: Business

  • Turkish People Have 5,000 Tons of Hoarded Gold, Dunya Reports

    Turkish People Have 5,000 Tons of Hoarded Gold, Dunya Reports

    By Ercan Ersoy – Dec 2, 2010 8:18 AM GMT+0100

    Turkish people keep about 5,000 tons of gold jewelry ‘hoarded under pillows’, Dunya reported, citing Osman Sarac, head of the Istanbul Gold Exchange.

    The amount is increasing as Turks see the metal as a savings tool because of rising global gold prices, he said, according to the newspaper.

    Trade volume on the Istanbul Gold Exchange is expected to rise to 150 tons in 2011 from 120 tons this year, he said.

    To contact the reporter on this story: Ercan Ersoy in Istanbul eersoy@bloomberg.net.

    To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at bkammel@bloomberg.net.

    via Turkish People Have 5,000 Tons of Hoarded Gold, Dunya Reports – Bloomberg.

  • UPDATE 1-Koc, AES form Turkey power projects venture

    UPDATE 1-Koc, AES form Turkey power projects venture

    * Venture to diversify into coal, hydroelectric, wind

    * Koc unit sells Entek stake to AES for $136.5 mln

    * Planned investment of $4-5 bln over 5 years

    * Aygaz shares jump 4.4 percent

    (Recasts, adds quotes, details, share movements)

    By Asli Kandemir and Evrim Ergin

    ISTANBUL, Dec 1 (Reuters) – Koc Holding (KCHOL.IS: Quote) and U.S. power company AES Corporation (AES.N: Quote) unveiled a joint venture on Wednesday to develop power generation projects in Turkey, targeting planned privatisations in the fast-growing economy.

    Under the deal, Koc energy unit Aygaz (AYGAZ.IS: Quote) would sell 49.6 percent of its power generation subsidiary Entek to a Netherlands-based AES company for $136.5 million, Aygaz said in a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange.

    Aygaz shares jumped 4.4 percent to 8.16 lira in the wake of the announcement, while Koc Holding shares were flat at 7.06 lira in a broadly firmer market.   Continued…

    via UPDATE 1-Koc, AES form Turkey power projects venture | Energy & Oil | Reuters.

  • Turkish Airlines to connect Istanbul with Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Turkish Airlines to connect Istanbul with Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Published by Ozgur Tore
    WEDNESDAY, 01 DECEMBER 2010
    Turkey’s national carrier will start connecting flights via Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) into Vietnam from 29 December 2010 with four times weekly service departing from Istanbul on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.Flight times to Ho Chi Minh City by 29 December 2010 as follows;

    Istanbul – Bangkok Departure / Arrival
    Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 23:40           13:40 (+1)
    Bangkok – Ho Chi Minh City Departure / Arrival
    Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday 15:10            16:40
    Ho Chi Minh City – Bangkok Departure / Arrival
    Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday 20:55            22:25
    Bangkok – Istanbul Departure / Arrival
    Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday 23:45            05:30 (+1)

    All times are in Local Mean Time (LMT).

    Airfares to Ho Chi Minh City will be on sale with the reduced prices starting from 623 Euros for round trip travels including taxes and fees for travels between 29th December 2010 and 31st March 2011.

    Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines is the fourth biggest network carrier in Europe, the airline currently flies to 167 destinations, including 128 international and 39 domestic lines, with joining the new routes to its flight network, the airline will reach to 169 destination worldwide.
  • Turkey has become net exporter of structural steel

    Turkey has become net exporter of structural steel

    Mr Selcuk Ozdil VP of the Turkish Structural Steel Association said while speaking at a Turkish Steel Market Conference held in Istanbul that usage of structural steel in Turkey commenced 10 years ago. Before the 1999 earthquake demand for structural steel and production of these products did not exist in the country.

    selcuk ozdilHe said that in this context, the association began its work, focusing on publicizing the usage of structural steel and the resulting advantages. He added that the association’s efforts had succeeded, resulting in significant growth in the consumption and production of the products in question. He also pointed out that a complete range of sections are currently being produced in Turkey.

    Mr Ozdil went on to state that Turkey is now a net exporter of structural steel and thanks to the development of this sector, structural steel is now a major export product for Turkey, just like rebar. According to the figures presented by Mr Ozdil, Turkey’s structural section production capacity has reached 2.15 million tonnes while the country’s domestic consumption stands at 575,000 tonnes and Turkey’s apparent consumption is estimated to reach 1 million tonnes.

    Mr Selcuk Ozdil pointed out that the potential of the structural steel industry is improving, as sustainable construction activity and investments for renewable energy increase, as production of stronger and lighter products is realized with innovations in design and as more economic production is achieved with the increase in capacities.

    (Sourced from Steel Orbis)

  • World’s 10 Best Economic Performing Cities

    World’s 10 Best Economic Performing Cities

    As they prepare to ring in 2011, Istanbul’s residents have an extra special reason to celebrate, as the Turkish city was named the world’s best-performing city in terms of economics, according to a new report.

    istanbul

    Prepared by the Brookings Institution and the London School of Economics, the Global MetroMonitor ranked 150 world cities, according to growth in gross value added per person (a proxy for income) and employment. With income growth of 5.5 percent and employment growth of 7.3 percent over the past year, Istanbul topped the chart. But with four cities nestled firmly in the top ten, China is undoubtedly the report’s champion at the national level.

    The recession has toppled previous champions — Dubai, the second-best performing city between 1993 and 2007, now ranks among the most stagnant.

    See the top 10 cities outside the U.S., and their rankings, here:

    via World’s 10 Best Economic Performing Cities: 2010 Global MetroMonitor (PHOTOS).

  • Uganda, Turkey sign bilateral trade agreement

    Uganda, Turkey sign bilateral trade agreement

    By Martin Luther Oketch  (email the author)

    Posted Thursday, December 2 2010 at 00:00

    Kampala

    Uganda and Turkey have signed a bilateral trade agreement that will formalise business traffic between the two countries. The signing of the agreement follows a first joint economic commission of a Ministerial session held in Kampala between Monday and Tuesday. The meeting, which included a delegation of Turkish officials, Uganda officials and participants from other East African states, also discussed bilateral trade relationships between East Africa, particularly Uganda, and Turkey.

    Trade volumes

    According to statistics recorded in the last decade, trade between the two countries has grown from about Shs4.6 billion in 2003 to about Shs51 billion in 2009. The committee focusing on trade and investment, said trade potential between the two countries has not been fully exploited and as such there is a need for a joint vision to strengthen and further develop commercial and economic relations.

    The committee agreed to encourage the two countries’ export promotion bodies to assist Small and Medium Enterprise to expand capacity and engage in export trade and facilitation.

    Members said SMEs should be provided with skills development programmes and trade information in order to boost their capacity.

    Other focus areas

    The agreement will also focus on industrialisation with technical support from Turkey, technological transfers to support Uganda’s textile industry and goods standardisation among others. Turkey also agreed to provide training programmes to Ugandan farmers on the issue of modern irrigation systems, agricultural extension and the use of agricultural equipment and machines. The technical session also indentified transport as another key area, which needs cooperation.

    Mr Kahinda Otafiire, Uganda’s Tourism and Trade minister, signed on behalf of the Uganda government, while Mr Bulent Arinc, the Turkish deputy prime minister, signed on behalf of the Turkish government.

    via Daily Monitor:  – Commodities |Uganda, Turkey sign bilateral trade agreement.