BSRIA, a consultancy, test and research organisation dedicated to building services and construction industries, recently presented a report on the Turkish air conditioning market. According to it, during the past five years, the Turkish economy has started to flourish, with fast, steady growth in the construction industry, particularly in tourism, offices, shopping centres and residential construction. Air conditioning is now seen as an essential commodity, and the growth has led to a decline in prices of air conditioning units.

 

In 2006, the value of the Turkish market for packaged air conditioning was estimated at US$601.5 million, and this is set to increase further in 2007-2008, following steady growth since 2000. Minisplits remain the major growth area in the packaged air conditioning market. In 2006, they enjoyed a volume increase of 30 per cent compared with 2005. Despite previous estimates, the growth of the single split market has not slowed down and continues to grow at a high rate. The VRF market is growing at a rate of 20 per cent each year in volume terms. MHI and Daikin dominate the VRF market, however they are facing competition from General, Mitsubishi Electric, Toshiba and Sanyo.

Both the air handling units market and fan coils market are set to enjoy an increase of at least 10-14 per cent in value terms over the next couple of years, due to buoyant construction in Turkey. The Turkish market for airside products has recently grown faster than the chiller market, and now has nearly the same market value. Experts believe that if Turkey aligns its regulations regarding ventilation with those of the EU, the air handling market will receive a major boost, reveals BSRIA’s press release. The fan coil market has continued to grow at a steady pace since the crisis of 2000. Moreover, three quarters of the locally sold fan coils are imported and the introduction of low cost products from China has decreased the price of fan coils. Aesthetics in the indoor environment is a major factor contributing to the growing popularity of the concealed type of fan coils.