The Turkish manufacturing sector neared stabilisation in December, according to the Istanbul Chamber of Industry Türkiye Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).

The headline indicator rose to 49.1 in December from 48.3 in November. That pointed to only a slight moderation in the health of the manufacturing industry and one that was the least pronounced in eight months.

Andrew Harker, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: “The final set of PMI data for Türkiye in 2024 provided plenty of hope for the sector in 2025. While business conditions continued to moderate, the latest slowdown was only marginal as signs of improvement were seen in a range of variables across the survey. If this momentum can be built on at the start of 2025, we could see the sector return to growth.

“The prospects for the sector should be helped by a much more benign inflationary environment than has been the case in recent years. Output prices rose only slightly in December, and to the least extent in just over five years.”

The December PMI showed that production was scaled back only marginally and to the least extent in the current nine-month sequence of slower output, amid some signs of demand improving.

New orders continued to moderate overall, however, as demand remained subdued, said S&P.

The PMI also observed that input costs grew at a marked pace in December, linked to higher raw material prices and weakness of the lira against the US dollar. The pace of inflation was at a three-month high but much weaker than the average for 2024 as a whole.