According to the GfK study, the incentives, which were first introduced in March for a three-month period and later extended through last month, produced a 9 percent growth in production in the white goods sector as well as an 18 percent increase in sector revenues during the March-June period of this year, compared to the same period of last year. The sector, which includes refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers and ovens, had experienced a decline in production since 2007.
During this period, the highest growth was seen in dishwashers, whose market is not fully saturated in Turkey, with a 26 percent increase in production and 40 percent increase in revenue. The production level in the white goods sector had declined by 26.4 percent in the first two months of the year over the same period of 2008; however, this figure started to increase in March due to the stimulation created by the government's cuts in value-added tax (KDV) and Private Consumption Tax (ÖTV). The sector suffered only a 1.2 percent decline in production in the first six months thanks to the 9 percent growth it saw between March and June.
For the first half of the year, the sector contracted by only 1.2 percent, while its revenues increased by 7.4 percent. While the sales of refrigerators, washing machines and ovens decreased by 2.4, 3 and 3.5 percent, respectively, in the first half of 2009, sales of dishwashers increased by 4.1 percent. The revenues from dishwashers also increased, by 16.9 percent in the first half of the year, making the appliance the only one not negatively affected by the global financial crisis.
As issues like global warming and alternative energy resources gain more importance, customers also are beginning to pay attention to whether the goods they are purchasing save water or energy. In this regard, sales of A-class white goods are also growing. The share of these products in overall white goods sales has increased from 65.8 percent in the first six months of 2008 to 69.1 percent in the same period this year.
