The printing industry in Turkey, like those in Eastern Europe, showed some growth in the last decade. Yet there is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic did impact the printing industry (like other industry sectors) heavily as well. Still, it is difficult to quantify the impact as the most recent revenue data Eurostat publishes now dates from 2019. As a more timely series, Eurostat publishes a production index for printing and recorded media, which gives an indication on how production volumes developed based on 2015 averages. The most recent data point for Turkey dates from September 2021.
During the height of the COVID-19 crisis in April 2020, the production volume index dropped to 78% of the 2015 production average. As volumes in 2019 were slightly lower compared to 2015, the drop amounts to 20% below the pre-coronavirus average. In contrast, the EU output (which excludes Turkey and the UK production) dropped by 31% compared to the pre-pandemic average, which indicates that the printing industry in Turkey experienced a more moderate decline
The steep drop led to a quick recovery until July, followed by another drop. Yet the total of 2020 averaged to be only slightly below 2019, with a 0.7% lower production volume. As the numbers for Turkey keep fluctuating strongly, normally these numbers should be analyzed with some form of statistical smoothing, but this would obscure the impact of the COVID -19 pandemic as well, accordingly the unfiltered data is displayed here.
2021 started off better and despite some fluctuations, the index surpassed pre- coronavirus levels noticeably. September 2021 brought another dip, although given the huge monthly fluctuations in the past this might be just a blip. Nevertheless 2021 is set to be a decent year, surpassing pre- coronavirus production levels.
Taking into account the decline and recovery, the 2020 print industry production was flat compared to 2019. Assuming 2021 is continuing in the same vein as the first nine months, 2021 should have some good volume growth in 15% range compared to 2019.
Source: Eurostat
The index data gives a timely reference on how well industry sectors are doing. Less timely is the reporting of revenues. However, it does provide the total industry size.
Turkey is not part of the European Union, yet some numbers are reported to Eurostat. However, these numbers can be patchy. The only production numbers reported in the last 10 years are from 2013 and 2014. In these years, Turkey achieved production values of €2.8 billion in printing and reproduction of recorded media. Although production increased noticeably since, the revenues expressed in euros should have increased less due to a noticeable devaluation of the Turkish lira.
