Chemicals are indispensable to modern life and the development of chemical industry has helped to elevate the standard of living, which is an indicator of the level of industrialization in a country. Chemical industry products contribute significantly to growth in other industrial sectors.

            The Turkish chemical industry, which is based on modern technology, has diversified and showed steady improvement.  

       Turkey has been manufacturing chemicals for very long time, being a producer of many basic and intermediate chemicals, petrochemicals and plastics. The production value of the Turkish chemical sector reached about $ 8.8 billion in 1999.

            There are about 6000 companies manufacturing various chemicals in Turkey. 95 of these companies are large scale, 208 companies are medium scale and the rest are all small size companies. Most of the companies in chemical industry, especially private sector companies, are situated in İstanbul, İzmir, Kocaeli, Adana and Ankara. Turkish chemical industry employs 114 thousand workers and 47.2 percent of them are employed in small and medium size companies.

            The Turkish petrochemicals industry has shown a considerable growth since 1970. The dominant organization in the Turkish petrochemical sector is Petkim Petrokimya Holding A.Ş. which is a public company. There are two petrochemical complexes of Petkim, one is in Yarımca-Kocaeli and the other one is in Aliağa-İzmir. The Aliağa Complex has a total capacity of 1 497 000 tons/year and the Yarımca Complex has a total capacity of 288 000 tons/year. In these two complexes a wide range of petrochemicals, all common plastics (HDPE, LDPE, PS, PVC, PP), aromatics, ethylene glycol, phtallic anhydride, terephthalic acid, carbon black, synthetic rubber, acrylonitryl and caustic soda are produced. Total amount of production of these products reaches around 2.7 million tons/year. The demand for petrochemicals steadily increases, at a rate of 10 % in a year.

            Since textile sector is a well-developed sector in Turkey, polymer production related to textiles has also developed simultaneously. Large plants for production of polyamide, polyester and acrylic fibers have been built and production has been directed to foreign markets as well as domestic market.

            Almost all synthetic fibers are produced by private sector and synthetic fiber production is around 850 000 tons/year.

            The domestic production of basic plastic raw materials naturally resulted in a strong plastic processing industry. Plastic processing industry together with rubber processing industry has a share of 6 % in the manufacturing industry of Turkey. Turkey manufactures all kinds of plastic products, ranging from traditional to latest developed plastic products, such as plastic construction and irrigation products, plastic autoparts, plastic table and kitchenware, all plastic parts of electronic, electrical and household items and all kinds of plastic packing products.   At present, in Turkey there are about 4000 plastics processing companies which are mainly small and medium scales.

            The Turkish petroleum products industry began production in 1955. TÜPRAŞ- Turkish Petroleum Refineries Corporation is the dominant producer of petroleum products. There are four refineries of TÜPRAŞ. TÜPRAŞ refineries account for 84.8 % of Turkey's total production. TÜPRAŞ's refining capacity reaches 27.6 million tons/year and produces LPG, naphtha, premium and regular gasoline, unleaded premium gasoline, jet fuel, gas oil, kerosene, lube oil, sulfur, fuel oils, asphalt and other petroleum products.

            Fertilizer industry is one of the key industries for Turkey, which has vast agricultural potential. Fertilizer production started in 1939 on a small scale at Karabük Iron and Steel Works with the production of ammonium sulfate. The first independent fertilizer plant commenced production in 1954. Heavy fertilizer investments were realized during the 2nd and 3rd Five Year Plan periods. Today there are six companies producing fertilizers exclusively. Three of these Tügsaş, İgsaş and Gübre Fabrikaları T.A.Ş., are in the public sector and operate 12 plants and rest of them, Bagfaş, Toros Gübre and Ege Gübre are in the private sector. The private sector operates 9 plants. In addition, three public sector iron and steel companies (Karabük Demir Çelik, İs-kenderun Demir Çelik and Ereğli Demir Çelik) produce fertilizers as a by-product and operate 3 plants. Fertilizer production of Turkey reached about 4 million tons in 1999.

            Pharmaceuticals, soap and detergents, soda, chromium chemicals, boron chemicals, paints, sodium sulphate and fatty acids are other main areas of production of the chemical industry.

            The pharmaceuticals industry has become one of the leading sectors of the chemical industry and accounts for approximately 10 % of the chemical industry's production. The Turkish pharmaceutical market has a great volume due to the country's population of about 65 million. This means that the market is a huge and promising one for international companies who intend to enter into joint ventures and other forms of mutually beneficial cooperation with their Turkish counterparts.

            Turkish soap and detergent industry has shown very good performance in terms of quality and capacity. There are many companies in soap and detergent industry, about 15 of them being the major ones, among these there are multinational groups which enjoy worldwide reputation.  The industry has a total production capacity 800 000 tons/year and great export potential.

            Parallel to the developments in construction, automotive and marine industries of Turkey, paints and coatings industry has also developed and has became one of the most dynamic sectors of the Turkish chemical industry. Today the industry produces about 300 000 tons/year of paint and coating and comprises about 200 manufacturers, nearly 10 of them being large-scale companies.

            Turkey has the largest soda factory in the Middle East. In addition to light and dense soda ash, refined sodium bicarbonate and sodium silicate are produced at the Mersin plant. Recently, an extremely rich trona (natural soda ash) deposit were found near Ankara, Beypazarı, where Turkey will have substantial export potential of the soda ash in the future.

            Being among the top five countries supplying chrome ore to the world markets, Turkey produces and exports some of the most important chrome chemicals, such as sodium bichromate and basic chrome sulfate.

            Turkey also enjoys a comparative advantage in boron chemicals (borax decahydrate, borax pentahydrate, boric acid and sodium perborate) due to the size of her reserves, the quality of minerals and proximity to the consumer markets.

            In conjunction with recent industrial growth in Turkey, the consumption and production of many other chemicals are growing rapidly and the number of chemicals produced is increasing every year.  The recent developments in textile and leather chemicals are also worth mentioning and many small and medium size companies has recently started to operate in these two sectors.

            In the Turkish chemical industry, there are about 160 companies with foreign investment. The Turkish chemical industry has a share of 8.8 % of total foreign capital in Turkey. About 35 % of foreign capital in chemical industry was invested in industrial chemicals, 37 % was invested in plastic industry and 6 % was directed to oil and coal products.

            In 1999, the chemical industry was the fourth major exporting sector among the total industrial exports, following textile and clothing, iron and steel products and agricultural products. The value of chemical exports reached about $ 1.7 billion in 1999 or about 6.56 % of the total exports in Turkey.

            Major export products of the Turkish chemical industry were plastic raw materials and plastic products with an export value of  $ 416 million in 1999. The second major export products group are the rubber and rubber products with an export value of $ 348 million. Soaps, detergents and other cleaning products, inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals, synthetic fibers, pharmaceutical products, paints and coatings, essential oils and cosmetics and fertilizers are the other export items of the chemical subsectors.