INDUSTRY

Located on the main routes of trade including the famous Silk Road since the early periods of history, Konya has been known basically an agricultural province as well as a rich center of archeology. However, recent developments show that the image of Konya is now changing from an agriculture based region to being an industrialized region. Industrial investments became important factor for regional development in Konya besides the impetus coming from agricultural background.

At the early days of the young republic Konya was seen as a poverty strikers city operating as a closed economy limited to the confines of the city. Only a handful artisans and small businesses were operating at those years.
With the impetus coming from public investments made in Konya it began prosper rapidly. The early signs of industrialization in Konya were the agricultural machinery production. Produced mostly in small workshops and factories, the products were sold not only in Konya, but also in other agricultural regions of the country.

During the 1970s Konya experienced a development campaign in every field of business. Following the early investments in food related industries such as flour, macaroni, candies, feed, etc., other factories have followed suit. Today, there are medium to large size factories in the vegetable oil, rubber, plastics, shoe manufacturing, and other sectors. In food sector, 64 mills produces 5 thousand tons of flour Also, there are 34 feed factory who have 464 ions per hour capacity. In the city there were nearly 400 thousand calves and more than 2 million livestock in 1997.

Now becoming almost self-sufficient to ensure an integrated industrial base, the industries in Konya utilizes up-to-date technology and machinery. As an example, paper packaging and printing factories in Konya produce variety of products up to the European standards. Considerable development have been achieved in the iron and other metals casting, machine production, agricultural machinery production and in the automotive sectors.

Aluminum plants are the pride of Konya. The establishment of basic production plant in Seydisehir helped the development of aluminum processing industries around the main manufacturing. A number of private rolling mills produce for national and international customers.

In Konya every conceivable machinery can be manufactured by experienced designers and producers. Among the hot selling machinery in the province are, complete flour processing mills, hydraulic and mechanical presses for metal processing industries, engine repair and renovation mills and giant hydraulic presses.

All machinery produced in Konya have reached the quality level of their European competitors. Machines produced in Konya have been sold successfully in Middle East, African and European countries.

The production of agricultural machinery has a long history in Konya. The producers of agricultural machinery in Konya are proud to be the first exporters of these kind of products. They were successfully selling their quality products in foreign markets. 45 percent of Turkey's agricultural machinery and equipment exports belong to the Konya producers.