Machinery and Chemical Industry (MKE) has achieved significant success in the defense industry by increasing its exports by a striking 16-fold in the last three years. MKE General Manager İlhami Keleş stated that they have made the first investment in the defense sector and the third largest investment in Türkiye among all sectors with an investment budget of 818 million dollars. In his presentation at the TBMM Public Economic Enterprises (KİT) Commission, Keleş emphasized that they have increased the export figure from 2021 million dollars in 40 to 2024 million dollars as of 639.
Keleş also announced that they had established new city-sized production facilities in Kırıkkale and that they had made an investment in Samsun to produce the explosive raw material nitroguanidine. He stated that nitroguanidine is a dual-use product that is mainly imported from northern countries where natural gas is cheap.
New Partnerships Targeted in the European Market
Speaking at the KİT Commission, Deputy Minister of National Defense Alpaslan Kavaklıoğlu expressed that they want to receive a share of the 800 billion Euro budget allocated by the European Union for armament as MKE. Kavaklıoğlu stated that they will establish new companies and make partnerships in Europe in the coming years, and that they will take important steps towards exports as well as strengthening the local and national industry. He added that MKE's profitability has increased and that they will increase their capital to use this profit in investments and exports.
Billion Dollar Threshold Exceeded in Turnover
MKE General Manager Keleş noted that they reached a net turnover of 1,2 billion dollars this year and that the billion dollar threshold was exceeded for the first time in the history of Makine Kimya. He stated that 47% of this turnover was obtained from domestic sales and 53% from international sales. Emphasizing that a 156% increase in turnover was achieved in dollar terms, Keleş stated that the budget allocated for R&D was 59 million dollars.
Keleş also announced that there are contracted sales of nearly $7 billion domestically and $1 billion abroad. Keleş stated that MKE is one of a limited number of companies that have the ability to produce weapons, ammunition and explosive raw materials end-to-end, and added that they have become able to share this know-how with friendly and brotherly countries, which constitutes an important export item.
