OREANDA-NEWS. A weak lira at a time of low oil prices should benefit the Turkish petrochemicals industry, which is showing significantly improved profitability. Growth will be led by the export-oriented automotive industry, while other sectors such as construction will languish.

Capacity growth in ethylene and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) in 2014 had little effect on overall petrochemicals production growth in 2015, with Turkish petrochemicals producer Petkim's output totalled 4.84mn tonnes, down 1.6% year-on-year (y-o-y).

Overall growth rates appeared unaffected by the ramping up of production at Petkim's expanded ethylene plant. This increased capacity from 520,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) to 600,000tpa and the concurrent increase in PTA capacity from 70,000tpa to 105,000tpa has helped lift chemicals output and provided cheaper feedstock for polymers production.