The seasonally & calendar-adjusted industrial turnover index rose 3.4% m/m in March after posting a revised 3.8% m/m increase in the previous month, the statistics institute TUIK said on May 13.

Turnover in the intermediate goods sector rose 2.6% m/m in March after rising 5.4% m/m in the previous month while turnover in the durable goods manufacturing industry rose 2.8% m/m following a 2.1% m/m rise in February. Turnover in the energy sector was up 7.4% m/m in March that followed a 10.7% m/m in the previous month. In the capital goods manufacturing industry turnover rose by a 3.6% m/m in March versus a 2.1% m/m decline in February.

TUIK also said that the headline calendar-adjusted turnover index rose 6% y/y in March after posting declines in the previous two months.

The Turkish economy grew by 2.6% y/y in Q4/2014, above the 1.9% y/y expansion in the previous quarter. But Turkey’s GDP growth slowed to 2.9% last year from 4.2% in 2013. The government forecasts a 4% economic growth this year but analysts think this is a rather optimistic growth target.

On a calendar-adjusted basis, Turkey’s industrial production rose 4.7% y/y in March (market forecast: 0.9% y/y), after increasing 0.9% y/y in the previous month, data from TUIK showed on May 8. The latest PMI survey showed that the Turkish manufacturing sector remained in a downturn in April. The PMI rose from March’s 71-month low of 48.0 to 48.5, but the latest figure was still the joint-second lowest since April 2009.