R+T Turkey is opening its gates to a growing and promising market

The rapidly growing construction sector offers sale opportunities to foreign exhibitors / Support programs for SMEs in Turkey

The leading Turkish trade fair for roller shutters, doors/gates and sun protection systems will be held on a new date, on March 1st-4th, 2017 in Istanbul. R+T Turkey is being organized for the third time by Messe Stuttgart Ares Fuarcılık Ltd. Şti, the Turkish subsidiary of Messe Stuttgart. About 140 exhibitors from ten countries are expected to participate in the event. In 2015, R+T Turkey hosted 119 exhibitors, 35 of whom were from abroad. A total of eight countries were represented: In addition to Turkey and Germany, the show attracted exhibitors from China, Greece, Italy, Korea, Slovakia and Spain. The companies presented their latest developments and technologies in Hall 1 of the CNR Expo Fair Center, filling 11,000 square meters of exhibition space. Reflecting on the previous event, Birsen Karakaya, Industrial Fabric Manager of ICA said: “It was a good and thematically clearly focused trade fair. We were pleased with the number of and interest from the visitors”. The more than 7,000 visitors, one third of them international attendees, particularly from Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, Iran and Italy paid special attention to awnings, pergolas and pavilions, roller shutters and accessories as well as window shutters, doors and gates. The visitor quality was top notch, with 90% of attendees holding leading positions within their companies, and with 93% being directly involved in purchasing decisions. 92% of the exhibitors believe that R+T Turkey will maintain or grow its significance in the coming years.

Turkey is one of the world’s fastest growing markets. The country wants to become one of world’s ten largest economies by 2023. “Vision 2023”, a comprehensive catalogue of measures was created to accomplish this goal. Support programs were created to increase the competitiveness of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by 2018, with the aim to expand their export capacity and to improve the overall business and investment environment in the country. Most of these companies buy machinery, equipment and accessories from abroad due to an outstanding reputation of international products in Turkey.

Particularly the construction industry is growing rapidly. Istanbul was the world’s third fastest growing city in 2014. Residential areas, hotels, hospitals, business centers, shopping malls and commercial facilities are being constructed across the country. In this regard, the Turkish government is focusing on eco-friendly and energy-efficient building design. In the door sector, there is a particular demand for the latest security technologies. Automatic, respectively smart doors and locking systems, such as electronic access control systems are needed in both newly constructed and modernized older buildings. These factors led to a major increase in demand for internal and external sun protection systems, intelligent drive and control systems, façade cladding, as well as for doors and gates in Turkey. R+T Turkey provides a great opportunity for international manufacturers to enter this growing market.

Co-operations between international and local Turkish companies can ease the entry into the Turkish market significantly. It is much easier to bid for international tenders opened by the Turkish state with local partners. R+T Turkey provides an ideal platform for international and local companies to establish business contacts and alliances.

Turkey is also known as the gate to markets in the Middle East, Russia and North Africa. The country has close commercial relations with her neighboring countries. For example, Turkey and Iran are planning to create a common customs free zone in order to improve bilateral trade. According the Turkish Statistical Institute (Türkiye Istatistik Kurumu), an increasing number of Turkish companies discover Africa in search of new markets abroad. Hasan Basmacı, head of Barış Tente is glad that he attended R+T Turkey 2015: “The trade fair met our expectations. It allowed us to open up markets that we had never contacted before”.