Turkey to See Renewed Multinational Investment, Says Report

Turkey is remains a key destination for foreign investment, and the next five years should see renewed interest from pharma multinationals, says a new report by CPhI Worldwide.

Although the Turkish government’s price referencing system and fixed euro-lira conversion rate have presented a major obstacle for pharma growth, the report states that these pricing challenges have had a parallel effect of increasing the dynamism in the market and improving overall competitiveness of the sector. As a result, the country now boasts a highly price efficient manufacturing industry far cheaper than those in the west, coupled with a comparable regulatory standards, providing an ideal mix of factors to establish Turkey as the key regional pharma economy.

One of the report’s more surprising conclusions is that Turkey “has a very robust IP protection environment”, with many Turkish owned manufacturers regularly patenting their own processes. Indeed, The Global Intellectual Property Center’s January 2014 International IP Report ranked Turkey 10th out of 25 countries in terms of patents, related rights, and limitations.

The CPhI report, which was compiled with the collaboration of Global Business Reports, also states that

• Turkish manufacturers are investing heavily in new facilities. Onko Koçsel investing €70 million on a new oncological manufacturing facility; Beko pharma investing in third €60 production site; Centurion spending €20 on its first facility. Even Turkey’s largest pharmaceutical wholesaler, Pharmactive has entered into the market through a $120 million investment.

• Export led growth throughout MENA and East Europe regions is seen as major driver of sales.

• Overall growth forecast at 6% per annum, with Turkeys largest exporters seeing a double digit sales growth.

The CPhI Pharma insights report (shortened copy) is at http://www.cphi.com/europe/networking/cphi-pharma-insights and attendees at this year’s CPhI Istanbul 2014 (4–5 June) will also be able to receive a free printed version of the full length report.