Since their establishment in the 1980s in Türkiye, Free Zones have surpassed many provinces in terms of export.
Free Zones were established to encourage investment and production aimed at exports, to accelerate the entry of direct foreign investments and advanced technology into the country. The contribution of our country’s free zones to the growth of our exports is undeniable. Typically, high value-added products are exported from free zones. For instance, there are approximately 110,000 exporting companies in Türkiye, and these companies generated an export income of 254 billion dollars for our country in 2022. On average, this means an export income of 2.3 million dollars per exporting company across Türkiye. In the same period, 2,928 companies in Free Zones carried out exports worth 11.4 billion dollars. Therefore, the average export amount per company in our regions is around 3.9 million dollars. As can be deduced from this calculation, the share of high value-added products in exports from the regions is significantly above the Turkish average. If ranked among the provinces with the highest exports, Free Zones, with a total export of 11.4 billion dollars, would rank 6th, just after Ankara.