INVEST IN TRABZON

POPULATION:
Trabzon, which has 18 districts, has a population of 758,237. More than half of inhabits (56%) live in city centers, while 44% live in rural areas. Female population outnumbers the male population with the share of 50.6% (374,562 male and 383,675 female). The land area of the city comprises 4,662 square kilometers. Population of the city center (Ortahisar district) is 306,286. Population density is 163 inhabitants per km² while the average population density of Turkey is 100. Population growth rate is recorded as 0.04% for 2013. The proportion of young population entering into the working-age (15-24 age range) is 16.66 %, this implies an important potential at labor force supply.

LABOR FORCE:
Trabzon has 50.3% labor force participation rate (Turkey’s average is 48.3%). Employment rate of Trabzon is 46.6% (TR average 43.9%) and unemployment rate is 7.4% (Turkey’s average is 9%). There are 24,057 unemployed, consisting of 13,915 men and 10,412 women, registered to İŞKUR (Turkish Employment Agency). Trabzon has a high potential of skilled labor with more than 60 thousand undergrad and grad students and 10 thousand graduates per year.

HEALTH:
With 1 university, 13 state and 4 private hospitals and experienced medical staff, Trabzon is one of the strongest cities in Turkey in terms of health facilities and infrastructure. Average number of hospital beds is 4.5 per 1,000 people in Trabzon whereas the number of Turkey average is only 2.65. Trabzon is way ahead in point of physician numbers per thousand people, too. The number of Trabzon is 2.3 where the average in Turkey is 1.7. Trabzon also ranks among top 10 cities in terms of health tourist numbers in Turkey.

EDUCATION:
Literacy rate is 94.92% in general, comprising 98.66% literacy rate among men, and 94,92% among women. The number of people, who has college or faculty degree or higher, is 79,861. Schooling ratio in primary and secondary education is above the TR average, the number of students per classroom is 23 while countrywide average is 29. Total number of education institutions of pre-primary, primary education, upper secondary education, vocational and technical education is 894. Total number of students is 139,152. In addition, there are 18 Public Education Centre in the province. KTU(Black Sea Technical University) has 62 academic units constituted by 7 institutes, 17 faculties, 3 colleges, 11 vocational high schools, 23 research and application centers and 1 conservatory. In 2011/12 education season, the total number of academic staff in KTU has reached to 2151. Related squad is comprised of 299 professors, 173 associate professors, 430 assistant professors and other acedemic staff consisting 1,249 instructors. Total number of academic staff in 2010-11 was 2,091. The other university of the province, Eurasian(Avrasya) University is the first established foundation university in Eastern Black Sea Region .Eurasian(Avrasya) University consists of 3 faculties ,3 institutes,4 High Schools. Eurasian University started its activity by admitting 218 students to its 10 departments in 2011-2012 Education Season .In 2012-2013 Education Session it continued its activity by 930 students. The total number of academic staff in Eurasian University in 2011-2012 Education Session has reached 66, including 14 Professors, 2 Associate Professors, 37 assistant professors and other acedemic staff consisting 13 Research Assistants.

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL LIFE:
There are 6 theatres, 68 cinemas, 4 museums, 198 libraries, 10 local newspapers, 3 shopping centers. Trabzon is a preferable province with social and cultural facilities. Especially, having 3 shopping centers is a attraction center in TR90 region. Also, Trabzon with having Sümela Monastery and Uzungöl increases the attractiveness.

NATURAL RESOURCES:
Trabzon ,has various mineral deposits of industrial raw materials as well as having metallic mineralizations. In terms of metallic minerals, the most important minerals of Trabzon are; Copper, Lead , Zinc, Molybdenum and Manganese Mineralization.In the consequences of researchs, 74 metallic mineral ore deposits and exposures are detected.The important copper-lead-zinc-pyrite-Molybdenum ore deposits are particularly concentrated on Maçka, Sürmene, Yomra ve Of Districts. In terms of industrial raw materials , the minerals in Trabzon are; Cement raw materials ,Clay ,Caoline. The industrial raw materials are oftenly used in the cement and ceramic facilities operating in Eastern Black Sea Region.Trabzon has huge potential in terms of quarries which are mostly used in as filling or industrial raw materials in construction sector.

AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK:
Trabzon’s total land area is 466,400 hectares, composed of 22.3% agricultural land, 26% grassland, 43% forest land, 8.8% non-cultural land.There is 72.612 agricultural enterprises in the province. Trabzon is the number one among provinces of TR90 Region in the production of corn, potatoes and fodder beet. Trabzon is one of the best performing provinces TR90 region in vegetable production, especially in production of black cabbage, chard, pumpkin, and green bean. Nuts is a strategically fruit for our country and TR90 region. Accounting for 15% and 29% respectively for total regional production, nuts and tea are number one means of income in Trabzon. Currently in organic agriculture it has been applied for tea, honey, nut, and kiwi production. For years 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 organic vegetable production lands consist of 812, 1039,340, and 448 hectares respectively. Looking to livestock number of Trabzon provinces, increase in water buffalo and bee numbers remarkable. The remarkable increase especially for bee hives indicates how potential of honey production can be important for an economy of province with future investments. Fishery is one of the most important parts of Trabzon culture. Bass is another important fish species for the city and has been produced by an enterprise in Yomra already. Annual average surface water in Trabzon is 3,741 million m3. Lakes in the provinces are Uzungöl, Balıklı Lake, Aygır Lake and Kara Lake. There are also a few glacial lakes in mountains of Trabzon.

FOREIGN TRADE:
In 2013 Trabzon made USD 1,136 billion of total export. With this amount Trabzon ranks 1st among 18 Black Sea Region provinces and 15th among all provinces of Turkey. On the other hand, total import of the province is USD 223 million. Trabzon’s export in “agriculture, hunting and related service activities” comprises 62% of overall exports of the province, which is largely based on hazelnut export. A very large part of exports in the province of Trabzon is carried out by a hazelnut company named as Oltan A.Ş. In addition, although the province’s economy is largely dependent on hazelnut and tea, tourism sector is also gaining importance for the economy of the city. Hazelnut and Products of hazelnut constituted the most exported product in Trabzon in 2013. Fresh fruits and vegetables ranked the second with 35% share of the total exports of Trabzon; however it must be noted that a significant share of fresh fruits and vegetables that are exported from Trabzon are not actually produced in Trabzon. The exported agricultural products that are produced in Trabzon includes: hazelnut and products of hazelnut, fish and fish flour, natural flower bulb and medicinal plants, tea and dry fruits and nuts.

LOGISTICS:
Transportation in Trabzon is carried out by road, air and maritime transport. Trabzon. Trabzon’s adjacent provinces are; Rize to the east, Gümüşhane and Bayburt to the south and Giresun to the west. Characteristics of province in logistics; the largest airport in the east of Turkey and top 10 busiest airports in Turkey; The most important of the Turkish Black Sea ports. Trabzon is linked by road with Rize (76 km east), Artvin (240 km east), and Erzurum (181 km south). There are construction projects aimed to combine Mediterranean and Black Sea on the main road route. 73 percent of exports in 2013 were carried out by sea. Trabzon Free Zone offers secure and convenient storage facilities with 11,000 sq.m of first class covered two warehouses and 20,000 sq.m of open space. The infrastructure of the Trabzon Free Zone is in international standards. It comprises 1.500sq.m of high grade office space, complete with all modern business facilities including car parking, telephone, telex, internet and fax.

INVESTMENT:
While the investment amount of transportation is decreasing every year, the most investment between years 2006-2011 was made ??in the transportation sector.Transportation sector is followed by education sector which has an immense increase every year.. Manufacture sector, is the lowest public investment sector .Public investments in other public services have indicated a significant increase in the last two years. This category which includes mapping, drinking water, land registry and cadastre, social infrastructure, sewage, municipal services and so on, provides backgrounds in supporting the development of many sectors. The investment incentive certificates give important insight about the current state and areas of the private sector investments. Within the period 2012-2013, 63 new certificates are registered for all investments, whereas most of the certificates consist of service sector (especiallay tourism sector). By means of these private sector investments total expected investment amount in Trabzon is 891 million TL and employment in Trabzon is expected to be 1,958.

TOURISM:
Trabzon showed impressive progress for the last 10 years. In 2013, 2,709,732 tourists visited Trabzon (in 2006 it was 1,673,879). 28% of them were foreign visitors (764,715). There are 31 tourism operation licensed hotels and 12 tourism investment licensed hotels most of which are 5-star and 4-star. 208 accommodation facilities in total with 13,234 beds provide service for their guests. As stated in “Tourism” section of this report, there are many reasons to choose Trabzon both for holiday and tourism investment. Worldwide known tourism destinations such as Sumela Monastery (UNESCO World Heritage Candidate), Uzungöl Lake and Hagia Sophia Mosque, green plateaus, easy access and suitable prices are only some of the reasons for visitors to come Trabzon. Increasing demand, high occupation rates, great interest from Gulf countries, public investments and state incentives encourage investors to make tourism investment in Trabzon.

INDUSTRY:
According to the data sourced by Provincial Directorate of Science Industry and Technology, 26 percent of the registered industrial businesses composed by food and beverages factories operating mostly hazelnut,tea and fishery products.Following food and beverages companies ,Construction Products factories with % 17 ratio is operating in Trabzon .The employment in industry consists of % 80 workers, % 3 engineers and the rest management staff. %28 of industrial companies are micro-sized, % 60 is small-sized, %10 is middle-sized and %2 is big companies . Within the whole companies in Trabzon; almost 30 have Research and Development Departments and almost 104 of them have Quality Control Departments. The awareness of R&D and Quality Control processes in Trabzon is developing day by day. There are 4 Organized Industrial Zones(OIZ) in Trabzon: Two of them (Arsin OIZ and Beşikdüzü OIZ) are in-service .One of them(Akçaabat Şinik OIZ )will start its activity by 2015.Lastly, expropriation and construction process is continuing in Vakfıkebir OSB. Arsin OIZ is the biggest OIZ of Eastern Black Sea Region consisting 88 companies operating ,3 companies under construction and one company in project process.It has the most employment(4200),annual trade volume and annual export amounts(305 million USD) in Eastern Black Sea Region.In Beşikdüzü OIZ, there are 18 companies operating,current employment is 303 and the annual export is app.3 million USD. Besides, Akçaabat Şinik Organized Industrial Zone having 48 parcel capacity will be allocated to 33 companies that will start their activities during 2015. By the first half of the 2015, OIZ is expected to operate.It has 870 hectare area and is located in Akçaabat District (17 km from Trabzon) and 12 km to highway. Moreover, Vakfıkebir OIZ is known to be included in investment plans in the near future. It will settle down on 830 hectare area near Vakfıkebir District (48 km from Trabzon) There are 9 Small Industrial Areas operating in Trabzon that has 810 companies and app.3,000 employees.

BANKING:
There are 17 banks operating with 111 branches in Trabzon. Number of people per branch is 6,830. Total deposits are 4.45 billion TL while the total loans are 5.99 billion TL. Loan/deposit ratio is 134 in Trabzon while it is 107 for the average of Turkey in 2013.

TRABZON SNAPSHOT