Highlights of ISO Top 500
As Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO), we have announced the 2025 results of the “ISO Türkiye's Top 500 Industrial Enterprises Survey,” which highlights the production capacity of Turkish industry, the performance of our real sector, and the transformation of our industrial enterprises over the years. The ISO 500 is not merely a ranking of companies; it is the memory of Turkish industry with nearly sixty years of accumulated data, a mirror reflecting our economy’s production, and one of the most reliable indicators of our real sector.
The 2025 results shed light on a period marked by increasing commercial and geopolitical uncertainties in the global economy, while in Türkiye, the effects of the fight against inflation on the industry have become more pronounced. While trade wars, geopolitical tensions, and weak external demand are putting pressure on the manufacturing sector globally, here in Türkiye, high financing costs, the real appreciation of the Turkish lira, and tight credit conditions have negatively affected labor-intensive and traditional sectors in particular.
Despite this challenging picture, it is a significant achievement that the three-year-long real decline in production sales among ISO 500 companies has reversed—albeit modestly—and that exports have outperformed the national average. The increase in the number of R&D companies and the strengthening of the defense industry’s leading position are also promising for our technological and strategic production capacity.
However, the fact that profitability ratios remain below long-term averages, the pressure of financing costs on operating profit, the increase in financial debt, and the real weakening of equity all indicate that the financial resilience of our industry must be strengthened. In the coming period, it is of vital importance that we transform into a more efficient, technologically advanced, green, and competitive structure while maintaining our production, investment, employment, and export capacities. To achieve this, we need a predictable macroeconomic framework, sustainable financing opportunities, and a strong industrial strategy centered on structural transformation.
To discuss these strategies and open up channels for our industrialists to access financing, we invited the general managers of four major public banks to the Istanbul Chamber of Industry’s June Assembly: Mr. Alpaslan Çakar, General Manager of Ziraat Bank; Mr. Recep Süleyman Özdil, General Manager of Halkbank; Mr. Osman Arslan, General Manager of Vakıfbank; and Mr. Ali Güney, General Manager of Türk Eximbank. The meeting was held under the motto “Supporting Industry Means Supporting Türkiye” and provided a very productive consultation for our industrialists.
Last month, we hosted another significant event at our Chamber. As part of “Istanbul Zero Waste Week,” organized under the auspices of the Istanbul Governor’s Office and coordinated by the Zero Waste Foundation, we held the “Industry’s Zero Waste Journey: Circular Business Models” meeting at Odakule, with the participation of Istanbul Governor Davut Gül and Chairman of the Zero Waste Foundation Samed Ağırbaş. At the meeting, we signed a protocol aimed at promoting the zero-waste approach across the industry. I believe this collaboration will greatly benefit joint efforts in the areas of the circular economy, waste reduction, green production, and clean technology.
Finally, we also launched a very important project regarding our SMEs’ access to financing and their development. By joining forces with Türkiye İş Bankası, we signed a protocol for the “Value-Driven Digitalization and Growth Program” to guide SMEs on their journeys toward digitalization, efficiency, and sustainable growth through the ISO Strategic Transformation Center. Hoping this project, which aims to better prepare our SMEs for the competitive conditions of the new century, will continue to expand and grow, I wish everyone a peaceful and healthy month.
Erdal Bahçıvan
Istanbul Chamber of Industry
Chairman of the Board of Directors