Turkey has a large and strong construction industry. At present the construction sector makes up 5.6% of the GNP.

The development of construction industry has resulted in a large and diversified production of building materials, a dynamic contracting and engineering services sector and though young, but a well established construction and mining machinery sector.

The share of the construction and mining machinery sector reaches 3% of production and 10% of exports of the machinery industry of Turkey. Growth of the sector closely depends on the housing production and municipality services to spread. Today, the annual production of approximately 568,000 residential housing units requires considerable investment. Housing constitutes approximately 75-80% of all buildings. In relation to population increase, it is predicted that the need of housing will reach 7-7.5 million units in the near future. Thus, this is considered to have a positive effect on the production of construction machinery.

Turkey is one of the world’s richest countries in minerals. Excluding petroleum and coal, there are approximately 4.400 mineral deposites in Turkey. Today, 53 different minerals are produced. Turkey is a major producer of boron minerals, feldspar, marble, baryte, celestite, emery, limestone, magnesite, perlite, pumice, copper and chromite.

Modern production equipment, the presence of new technologies and methods have been very important factors in the development of the mining sector of Turkey. Developments in the mining sector, especially in the marble production, have accelerated the growth of the mining machinery sector.

The Turkish construction and mining machinery industry manufactures and exports various kinds of construction and mining machinery including; pulley tackles, hoists other than skip hoists, winches, capstans, jacks, derricks, cranes, straddle carriers, works trucks fitted with a cran, forklift trucks, other work trucks fitted with lifting and handling equipment, lifting, handling, loading and unloading machinery, self propelled bulldozers, graders and excavators, moving, grading, scraping and boring machinery for earth, stone and mineral elements, spare parts of construction machinery, special purpose motor vehicles for persons and goods, work trucks and lifting equipment for factories and airports.

Source: State Institute of Statistics  In 2000, total construction and mining machinery production value was 206 million dollars. In terms of quantity, construction and mining machinery production reached to 52.392 units in the same year. Lifting equipment have the largest share in the total production of construction and mining machinery.

The Turkish construction and mining machinery sector have been producing lifting machinery especially cranes since 1970. Bridge and tower cranes, cranes designed for mounting on road vehicles and cranes used in the iron and steel sector have important places in the production of cranes. Small and medium sized companies dominate the crane industry. Approximately, 40 companies are operational in the crane sector. Some of the companies have specialized in the production of certain models by means of mass production. For instance, the production of special type high capacity cranes are performed successfully for 15 years by 5 large companies.

In Turkey, there are a few big companies producing small capacity machines called forklifts, loaders, back hoes, hammers and excavators. Excavators and loaders are among the fast developing products in the sector. At present, the share of loaders is about 55% in the total sales of construction and mining machinery. The share of excavators is about 30%. It is expected that this tendency for loaders and excavators will continue.

The Turkish construction and mining machinery industry are composed of more than 70 companies. Ten of these have large production capacity. The rest consists of small and medium sized enterprises. Manufacturing sites are mainly located in the Marmara, Central Anatolian and Aegean Regions of Turkey. İstanbul, Konya and Ankara are the major cities in construction and mining machinery and parts production.

One of the most promising subsectors of the Turkish machinery industry in exports is construction and mining machinery. Turkish construction and mining machinery producers compete with world-wide well known producers in Turkish market as well as in foreign markets.

At present, construction and mining machinery industry exports comprise 10% of the exports of the Turkish machinery sector and have an increasing trend. Total exports of the sector rose to $157.8 million in 2002. Main export products are namely, machinery spare parts, lifting, handling, loading and unloading machinery, special purpose motor vehicles for persons and goods, self propelled bulldozers, graders and excavators and derricks and cranes. Among product groups, construction and mining machinery spare parts are the most traded items. The share of machinery spare parts in the total exports of construction and mining machinery is about 52%. The other important export products lifting, handling, loading and unloading machinery account for 13% of the total exports of the sector.

Turkish-made construction and mining machinery are exported to almost 130 countries in the world. Major export markets are Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, the USA, Algeria, France, Morocco and the Netherlands.