Elections in Turkey: new opportunities for the ceramics sector

There is great anticipation for the results of the upcoming elections in Turkey, the outcome of which is set to change the global balance: 100 years after the birth of Ataturk's Republic, Turkish citizens are set to go to the polls this Sunday, May 14, for an election round that is crucial for their future and that of the world economy. The opposition led by pro-European Kemal Kilicdaroglu looks set to gain the upper hand over Erdogan's 20-year Islamist and nationalist empire following the country's current crisis.

The country's political fortunes will have a major impact on its economy: the eventual rapprochement to European economic dynamics could represent a growth opportunity for many leading sectors in the Old Continent including ceramics. Data from the Mecs Study Center show that the Turkish market has been self-sufficient in its own tile consumption for years: the report "World production and consumption of ceramic tiles" makes clear the country's positive growth trend in production and consumption, and at the same time the downward trend in tile imports with a sharp drop of -27 percent between 2020 and 2021. Turkey in the past two years under Erdogan's government has returned to sustained growth, with a record 20 percent growth in 2021, but with the recent economic crisis and strong demand from the construction sector after the destruction brought by the earthquake, growth opportunities open up for the world's leading tile-producing countries.

The Erdogan era may therefore see its end after 20 years of rule: 50 percent inflation combined with the millions of damages from the earthquake have undermined the unquestioned power of the sultan, who has, however, led Turkey in his first 10 years of rule to strong growth and recently increased his prestige internationally through mediation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and normalization of diplomatic relations with neighboring Middle Eastern countries: reasons that secured him strong support from the population, until the earthquake last February, which made it clear for the first time how widespread the corrupt system around the president was.