AYKUT ÖZÜNER: 2020 WILL BE A YEAR OF GROWTH FOR TÜRKTRAKTÖR

TürkTraktör, the Turkish automotive industry's first manufacturer that is still operational, managed to export 67% of the tractors it produced throughout 2019.

The manufacturer last year produced 22,745 tractors, of which 15,207 were exported, in the largest plant in Europe in terms of production volume in the Erenler district of the northwestern province of Sakarya.

TürkTraktör makes four out of every five tractors produced in the country. The company currently produces for New Holland, Case IH and Steyr, maintaining exports, which began in 1979, to more than 130 countries.

TürkTraktör General Manager Aykut Özüner said that despite the shrinkage in the market, they accounted for about 78% of the country's tractor production.

"I would say that we produce four out of every five tractors produced in Turkey," Özüner told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Saturday, adding that they exported 15,207 tractors last year. "Due to the shrinkage in the domestic market, our domestic market production has been limited. However, we think that this year will be better given the recent mobility," he told.

According to Özüner, they sold nearly 73,000 tractors in 2017, 48,000 in 2018 and 25,000-26,000 in 2019 – evidencing a rapid decline. The company exported 14,500 tractors in 2018 and 15,207 in 2019.

Indicating that they can produce tractors almost on all emission levels, he noted that this enables them to export tractors to nearly 130 countries. "We export to all the American and European countries, where emissions are very high, and countries where they are low. We export the most to the Americas. In Europe, we send tractors to countries like Germany and Poland. We also export significantly to our neighbor Iraq. We are stepping into 2020 more positively. We show growth in exports over the years. Our goal is to raise the bar a little bit higher this year," he added.

Özüner stated that government support for farmers and the recent decline in loan interest rates will bring motivation to the agricultural sector, so 2020 will be a year of growth for them.

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