TURKISH HEATING, VENTILATION, AIR CONDITIONING AND REFRIGERATION INDUSTRY

Turkish HVAC-R (Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning-Refrigeration) industry has been making a mark on the global marketplace with its premium quality products at cost effective prices. Research and development capacity allows the industry to manufacture environmentally friendly products with minimum carbon emissions. Many of the leading Turkish companies involved in HVAC-R Industry have started their operations in the early 50's. Since then, the Turkish air-conditioning and heating sector has been rapidly developing in both production and capacity to meet the growing demand both domestic and global. In fact, the increase in population and living standards has resulted in the need to produce more HVAC-R products. In recent years, companies in the sector have begun to form joint ventures with global firms that they had previously presented for years, thus creating technology transfer opportunities for both Turkey and HVAC-R sector.

The Turkish HVAC-R sector has a wide range of products from heaters to split A/C systems, boilers, DX units, fan coils, air handling units, refrigerators, freezers, VRF (Variable Refrigerant Flow systems), cooling towers, chillers, cold rooms, heating and cooling coils and rooftop/packaged units, heaters and boilers. The product range is wide enough to supply world markets and satisfy sophisticated customer needs.

According to HVAC-R production statistics provided by “Turkish Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Manufacturers’ Association” (İSKİD) and the “White Goods Industrialists Association of Turkey” (BESD); the production of mini split indoor units and outdoor units has steadily decreased to 4,163 and 1,540 units respectively in 2008. The production of mono split sets reached to over 1.6 million during the same period. The production of rooftop/package units is around 1,009 units in 2008 from 348 in 2004. Most of the production is for exports. The production of fan coil units has increased as well in the last two years. In 2008, 40,468 fan coil units were produced in Turkey. The export of these goods has also scaled up considerably due to the increasing number of Eurovent Certified Turkish manufacturers. Production and domestic sales of air-handling units is quite high in Turkey. In 2008, 45,920 air-handling units were produced in the sector. In the domestic market, there is a large number of local and international manufacturer’s presence. In 2008, 547 units water chiller were produced. Air-cooled units are definitely the preferred types, while water-cooled units are mostly used on the large capacity applications. In recent years, refrigerator production has had shown an upward trend as well.

All of this data depicts an upwardly mobile trend for the HVAC-R market in Turkey. The exports at most of the above products have had a significant increase in the last years. The Split Air Conditioner domestic market has a lot of room for improvement. The central system equipment manufacture is also expected to continue growing steadily in the following years. Turkish HVAC-R manufacturers are also aware of the need to continue to implement procedures necessary for the acquisition of standardization certificates of ISO Standards, CE or Eurovent-Cecomaf. Recently a large number of Turkish manufacturers have affixed the CE Mark to their products for export to the EU. At the beginning of 2003, it became obligatory to fulfill CE Mark requirements in order to sell products in the Turkish domestic market. At the same time, Turkish HVAC-R manufacturers follow international and national developments in environmental issues closely and comply with environmental legislation and regulations. As for consumer services, end-users are well served by the after-sales services of the appliance manufacturers. The HVAC-R industry follows strict legislation on after-sales services in Turkey.

In the last decade, the HVAC-R sector of Turkey has turned its attention to exporting its products. The high-technology used in the production process, the high priority given to research and development activities by Turkish HVAC manufacturers, the rising number of Turkish firms which have ISO Certificates and quality standards, the consideration of customer preferences during the designing phase, the consideration of the priorities of the foreign end-users, improved marketing techniques used and well-established after sales services are the reasons for the continuous growth in exports in recent years. Turkish HVAC-R industry products were exported to about 182 countries in 2009. The European Union (25) has a share of 61% in the HVAC-R industry exports of Turkey. The main export markets are the UK, Germany, France, Iraq and Italy. In 2009, exports exceeded US$2.5 billion. For the same year, the largest export product of the industry was refrigerators and freezers (US$1.3 billion) with a share of 52% followed by radiators and parts thereof with an export value of US$381 million. Air conditioning machines with an export value of US$252 million emerged as new products for exports. The others were central heating boilers (8%) and parts of vacuum pumps, compressors, fans, blowers (3%).

Turkish HVAC-R industry products are exhibited internationally as well as locally. 2010 trade show “ISK-SODEX 2010” (International Heating, Cooling, Ventilation, Insulation, Pumps and valves Trade Fair) that will take place in Istanbul, Turkey in May will host a Buyers’ Mission from various countries. To learn more about the Buyers’ Mission and how to apply for complimentary admission to the Buyers’ Mission program, please contact our Trade Missions Offices in your area.