Guide

Manufacturing in Gaziantep: what the city makes and exports

Lotvela · Gaziantep · Checked 29 October 2026

Companies based in Gaziantep exported $10.15 billion of goods in 2025, making it Türkiye's sixth-largest exporting province with 4.27 % of the province total (Turkish Exporters Assembly, TİM). Its largest export sectors are cereal and oilseed products such as pasta, flour, biscuits, chocolate and sunflower oil ($3.0 billion), carpets ($1.98 billion, 69.6 % of Türkiye's carpet exports), textiles ($1.53 billion) and chemicals and plastics ($1.28 billion). The city also makes packaging, hygiene products, furniture, footwear, HVAC equipment and machinery.

Gaziantep's exports by sector, 2025

The table lists every sector in TİM's 2025 province-by-sector file for Gaziantep. Values are FOB, in US dollars, and are counted by the exporter's legal head office. Shares are computed from the same file: Gaziantep's exports divided by the exports of all provinces in that sector.

Source: TİM, province-by-sector export file for January–December 2025. Sector names are our translations. The file's provinces add up to $237.4 billion; Türkiye's headline export figure for 2025 was $273.4 billion (Ministry of Trade and TİM, as reported by the Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce). Shares on this page use the province file. In January–September 2026, Gaziantep's exports were $7,989.3 million, up 8.0 % on the same months of 2025, and Gaziantep was still the sixth province (TİM, September 2026 file).

Three ways the numbers are counted

Official sources count "Gaziantep exports" in three ways. They do not add up to each other, so each figure on this page names its basis.

• TİM province by sector (the table above): exports by companies whose legal head office is in Gaziantep. Total for 2025: $10,145.0 million.
• GAİB registrations: exports registered with the South-eastern Anatolia Exporters' Associations (GAİB), based in Gaziantep. GAİB covers several south-eastern provinces, and a Gaziantep company may register its exports with an association elsewhere. GAİB calls these registration figures (kaydi ihracat). All GAİB registrations in 2025: $12,004.1 million. This page uses them for product groups such as pasta, nonwovens or PP yarn.
• GAİB province by HS chapter: half-year reports list Gaziantep province's ten largest HS chapters. Their 2025 total is $9,952.0 million (computed, first half plus second half), about 2 % below TİM.

Where Gaziantep leads Türkiye

These shares are computed from GAİB's 2025 year-end association reports: GAİB registrations divided by the Türkiye total for the same product group in the same report. Because GAİB covers several provinces, read them as the share of the south-eastern associations, most of which is Gaziantep.

Computed from GAİB's January–December 2025 reports for the carpet, textile and cereals associations.

Firms and workers

The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) keeps a register of firms that file an industrial capacity report. In its 2025 data, Gaziantep had 2,788 such firms with 170,636 workers in 33 NACE divisions. Small workshops without a capacity report are not counted. The counts and national positions below are from a 2025 study by Akpirinç and Sandal, which uses TOBB data for the counts and TOBB or social-security (SGK) data for the positions.

Of the firms with a size class, 52 % employ 1 to 9 people and 106 employ 250 or more. Of those 106 large firms, 52 % are in textiles, 9 % in rubber and plastics, 7 % in food and 7 % in paper (same study, TOBB 2025 data).

TİM's list of Türkiye's 1,000 largest exporters for 2024 includes 60 companies registered in Gaziantep; Akpirinç and Sandal count 18 of them in food and 14 in textiles. In the carpet sector of the same list, eight of the ten largest exporters give Gaziantep as their province, and the study counts nine of the ten as producing in Gaziantep.

Industrial zones

Most factories sit in the Gaziantep Organised Industrial Zone (OSB) at Başpınar, north-east of the city. It is the largest of Türkiye's 270 OSBs by area. Its five built zones hold 1,152 firms in 1,369 facilities: 519 textile facilities, 164 food, 136 plastic packaging, 90 chemicals, 86 machinery and metal, 21 recycling, 206 other and 147 idle. Data from the OSB umbrella body (OSBÜK) for 2022 put Başpınar's employment at 241,057, the highest of any OSB in Türkiye. A sixth zone of 1,213 hectares is being prepared; with it, Başpınar will cover 5,538 hectares. All figures in this section are from Akpirinç and Sandal (2025), compiled from the OSB directorates, unless another source is named.

Outside the OSBs, the KÜSGET and GATEM small-industry estates on the city's eastern edge house workshops; machinery and metal make up 27 % of units there, food 19 %. The old city centre around Nizip Caddesi still holds much of the footwear trade. Two zones are planned:

• Footwear specialised OSB (Ayakkabı İhtisas OSB): founded as a legal entity on 4 April 2022 to move shoemakers out of the city centre (İpekyolu Development Agency, 2024).
• Oğuzeli Furniture City: 130 hectares, with 78 factories, 50 workshops and a furniture mall in the first stage; handover of production areas was targeted for the first quarter of 2027 (Ekonomi Gazetesi, 17 February 2025, press).

Export markets and how exports are paid

Gaziantep's ten largest markets in 2025, from TİM data as published by the Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce (GTO):

1. Iraq: $1.7 billion
2. United States: $1.05 billion
3. Syria: $652 million
4. United Kingdom: $508 million
5. Italy: $373 million
6. Saudi Arabia: $346 million
7. Germany: $285 million
8. Libya: $248 million
9. Iran: $226 million
10. Djibouti: $221 million

By continent, Asia took 40.8 % of Gaziantep's exports in 2025, Europe 26.8 %, Africa 18.1 %, North America 12.6 %, South America 1.5 % and Oceania 0.2 % (GTO, TİM data). Markets differ by sector. The United States bought 27.3 % of carpets registered at GAİB's carpet association in 2025, ahead of Iraq (11.9 %), Saudi Arabia (11.7 %) and the United Kingdom (6.4 %). Iraq took 26.7 % of GAİB's cereal-product registrations, followed by Syria (11.2 %), the United States (8.1 %) and Djibouti (6.1 %); Africa's share rose to 30.3 %. In December 2025 alone, 1,840 Gaziantep firms exported to 174 countries (GAİB).

Most regional exports move on open terms. Of exports registered at GAİB in December 2025, 60.9 % were on cash against goods, 18.2 % on advance payment, 17.6 % on cash against documents, 2.8 % on letters of credit and 0.4 % on deferred letters of credit (GAİB economic bulletin, December 2025). With cash against goods, the buyer receives the goods and pays afterwards, so the producer carries the credit risk; buyers who pay in advance carry the opposite risk. Either way, both sides rely on knowing who they are dealing with.

What Gaziantep makes, sector by sector

Carpets and rugs

Gaziantep companies exported $1,975.3 million of carpets in 2025, 69.6 % of Türkiye's carpet exports (TİM, computed). GAİB's carpet association registered $1,644.9 million of machine-made carpets (76.2 % of Türkiye's), $280.4 million of tufted carpets (52.3 %) and $33.9 million of hand-made carpets. The Ministry of Trade ranks Türkiye second in world machine-made carpet exports in 2025, with $2.3 billion and 24.8 %, after China with $2.8 billion and 31.2 %, and says most Turkish machine-made carpet production is by Gaziantep firms. Woven pile carpets of man-made fibres (HS 5702.42) make up 90.4 % of Türkiye's machine-made carpet exports. Gaziantep has 128 carpet and rug firms with 15,362 workers (TOBB 2025). Pile yarn, density and backing vary between mills, so specify them in your brief. Read our pages on machine-made carpets from Gaziantep and mosque carpets and prayer rugs. Send a brief for machine-made carpets, mosque carpets and prayer rugs or artificial grass and tufted carpets.

Textiles: yarn, nonwovens and fabrics

Gaziantep's textile exports were $1,534.3 million in 2025, 16.3 % of Türkiye's (TİM). GAİB registrations show where the strength lies: PP yarn $304.5 million (87.5 % of Türkiye's), nonwoven fabrics $663.2 million (39.0 %), acrylic yarn $98.4 million (40.7 %), cotton yarn $178.5 million, fibres $180.4 million, knitted fabrics $177.3 million and woven fabrics $79.9 million. By HS chapter, Gaziantep province exported $543.4 million of wadding, felt, nonwovens, twine and rope (chapter 56) and $459.7 million of man-made filaments (chapter 54) in 2025 (GAİB, computed). TOBB counts 154 spinning firms with 25,140 workers and 42 nonwoven firms with 6,808 workers, both first in Türkiye, plus 44 finishing, 46 knitted-fabric and 22 weaving firms. Read our page on nonwoven fabrics from Gaziantep. Send a brief for yarn and fibres, nonwovens and technical textiles or fabrics and home textiles.

Confectionery, bakery, pasta, flour and vegetable oils

The cereals, pulses and oilseeds sector is Gaziantep's largest export: $2,995.1 million in 2025, 24.2 % of Türkiye's (TİM). GAİB registrations break it down: pasta $613.6 million (67.3 % of Türkiye's), sunflower oil $607.5 million (56.4 %), sweet biscuits and wafers $381.2 million (37.4 %), wheat flour $340.8 million (39.0 %), chocolate and cocoa preparations $270.9 million (19.7 %), sugar confectionery without cocoa $93.4 million (10.6 %), margarine $75.9 million and bulgur $44.7 million. TOBB counts 69 cocoa, chocolate and confectionery firms (4,565 workers, third in Türkiye), 62 mills (4,196, second), 17 biscuit makers (2,507, third) and 8 pasta makers (1,023, first). See our pages on chocolate, biscuits and wafers, candy, jelly and chewing gum and bulgur and pulses. Send a brief for lokum and confectionery, chocolate and wafers, biscuits and snacks, pasta, bulgur, flour and grains or sunflower and vegetable oils.

Pistachio, baklava and other Gaziantep food

Gaziantep gives its name to the Antep pistachio and to Antep baklava. TİM puts the province's dried-fruit exports, which include pistachios, at $173.9 million in 2025, down 10.0 %. GAİB registered $127.3 million of pistachios (kernels $82.3 million, in-shell $45.1 million), down 14.6 %. Fruit and vegetable products added $226.7 million (TİM). TOBB counts 94 fruit and vegetable processing firms with 2,062 workers. Baklava exports are not published as a separate figure in the sources we checked. Many local foods are registered geographical indications (see below). Read our Antep pistachio guide and tahini and pekmez guide. Send a brief for pistachio and nuts or baklava and kadayif.

Plastics and packaging

Plastics are Gaziantep's third-largest HS chapter: $901.4 million in 2025 for chapter 39 (GAİB province tables, computed). They sit inside TİM's chemicals sector, which grew 29.0 % in January–September 2026. TOBB counts 227 rubber and plastics firms with 22,221 workers, fourth in Türkiye. Of these, 84 make plastic packaging such as bags, sacks, boxes and bottles (9,673 workers) and 67 make sheet and film (8,936 workers); both are second after Istanbul. Another 20 firms with 3,015 workers make plastics in primary forms. The Başpınar OSB has 136 plastic-packaging facilities. Woven polypropylene sacks and FIBC big bags are made from PP tape and yarn, which Gaziantep also produces. Their export value is not published separately; GAİB's textile line "other made-up goods (tents, sacks etc.)" was $38.0 million in 2025, a lower bound only. Read our pages on FIBC big bags and PP woven sacks and plastic disposables and food packaging. Send a brief for PP woven bags and FIBC, plastic packaging and disposables or plastic film and bags.

Hygiene, paper and cleaning products

HS chapter 96, whose GAİB label names sanitary towels, diapers, pens, lighters, zips and brushes, was $433.3 million for Gaziantep province in 2025 (GAİB, computed). How much of it is hygiene products is not published. In December 2025, sanitary towels, tampons, diapers and similar articles were the fifth-largest product registered at GAİB, at $48 million for the month. Soaps, detergents and cleaning preparations (chapter 34) reached $125.9 million in July–December 2025. TOBB counts 79 paper firms with 8,268 workers, second in Türkiye; 37 of them make household, sanitary and toilet paper products (6,280 workers, second) and 15 make corrugated board and paper packaging. Another 42 firms make soap, detergents and cleaning products. Send a brief for diapers, wipes and pads, tissue and household paper, detergents and cleaning products or paper packaging.

Furniture

TİM's furniture, paper and forest products sector exported $499.7 million from Gaziantep in 2025, 6.3 % of Türkiye's; a furniture-only figure is not published. TOBB counts 76 furniture firms with 3,142 workers, plus 48 wood-products firms. Press reports put the number of furniture businesses at about 1,400 and say the planned Oğuzeli Furniture City is aimed at the Middle East market (Ekonomi Gazetesi, 2025, press). Send a brief for furniture.

Footwear and slippers

TİM's leather and leather products sector, which includes footwear, exported $107.0 million from Gaziantep in 2025, down 14.7 %, and fell a further 34.8 % in January–September 2026. The İpekyolu Development Agency (İKA) counted 403 footwear firms with capacity reports, employing 8,567 people, with a stated capacity of 883.1 million pairs a year, of which 305.6 million are slippers and indoor shoes. It estimates about 1,200 more small firms without capacity reports and 18,000 to 20,000 jobs in all. About 90 % of output is men's shoes, and northern Iraq is the main market (İKA, 2024). Stated capacity is not output; check it per producer. Send a brief for footwear and slippers.

HVAC, machinery and metal

The air-conditioning industry sector exported $418.6 million from Gaziantep in 2025, up 14.3 % and 5.7 % of Türkiye's (TİM); the product mix behind it is not published. Machinery and parts added $185.9 million, steel $206.4 million, iron and non-ferrous metals $134.5 million, and electrical and electronics $121.5 million. TOBB counts 232 machinery firms with 5,029 workers and 184 fabricated-metal firms with 4,921 workers that mainly supply local industry and construction. Neither ranks in Türkiye's top five by employment. Machinery and metal firms cluster in the KÜSGET and GATEM estates and in OSB zones 1 and 5. Send a brief for machinery and metal products or HVAC and climate.

Other industries

• Apparel: $145.5 million in 2025 (TİM); 145 firms with 3,539 workers (TOBB).
• Cosmetics and personal care: 43 firms with 1,655 workers, fifth in Türkiye (TOBB).
• Recycling: 124 firms with 7,057 workers, second after Istanbul with 12.3 % of the sector's jobs (TOBB).
• Animal feed: 27 firms with 892 workers (TOBB).
• Cement, glass and ceramics: $35.4 million (TİM).
• Automotive: $25.2 million (TİM).
• Crafts: hand-worked copper, mother-of-pearl inlay, Antep embroidery, kutnu fabric and yemeni shoes, all registered geographical indications.

Send a brief for cosmetics and personal care or other manufactured goods.

Gaziantep's geographical indications

Türk Patent's database lists 128 geographical indications for Gaziantep province: 112 registered and 16 applications (checked 29 October 2026). Most are dishes, but several cover products that buyers import. Türk Patent registers designations of origin (menşe adı) and geographical indications (mahreç işareti). EU status is from the eAmbrosia register, checked the same day.

Non-food indications registered by Türk Patent include Gaziantep Bakır El İşlemeciliği (hand-worked copper, no. 159, 2012), Gaziantep Sedef El İşlemeciliği (mother-of-pearl inlay, no. 160, 2012), Antep Kutnu Kumaşı (kutnu fabric, no. 199, 2016), Antep İşi (embroidery, no. 200, 2016), Nizip Sabunu (soap, no. 335, 2018) and Gaziantep Yemenisi (yemeni shoes, no. 1845, 2026). If one of these names matters to your customers, ask the producer how its product meets the registered specification.

How to use this page

The figures here come from official sources or a peer-reviewed study built on official registers, each with its period and basis; the few press figures are marked. The figures describe the industry, not any single company: they do not tell you which producer has capacity, a free production window or the documents your market needs. We are based in Gaziantep, the city where these mills operate. When your brief arrives, we contact and visit the producers that fit it, large or mid-size, and check product fit, a free production window, export record and documents. See how to check a Turkish factory, browse what we source or send a brief.

Questions buyers ask

What is Gaziantep known for manufacturing?

Gaziantep is best known for machine-made carpets, polypropylene and acrylic yarn, nonwoven fabrics, pasta, flour, biscuits, chocolate, sunflower oil, plastic packaging and pistachio products, including baklava. In 2025 its companies exported $10.15 billion, with cereal and oilseed products, carpets, textiles, and chemicals and plastics the four largest sectors (TİM). It also makes hygiene products, furniture, footwear, HVAC equipment and machinery.

Is Gaziantep a good place to source carpets?

It is where most of Türkiye's carpet exports come from: 69.6 % in 2025 (TİM), and GAİB's associations registered 76.2 % of Türkiye's machine-made carpet exports. Türkiye is the second-largest machine-made carpet exporter after China (Ministry of Trade). Gaziantep has 128 carpet firms (TOBB), and quality, density and compliance differ between them, so check samples, test reports and capacity before ordering.

How big is Gaziantep's industry?

TOBB's 2025 register counts 2,788 industrial firms with 170,636 workers in Gaziantep, and 106 of those firms employ 250 people or more. Textile firms employ 65,648 people, and Gaziantep ranks first in Türkiye for textile employment. The Başpınar organised industrial zone is the largest in Türkiye by area, and Gaziantep was the sixth-largest exporting province in 2025 and in January–September 2026 (TİM).

Which industrial zone in Gaziantep has the most factories?

The Gaziantep (Başpınar) OSB, with 1,152 firms in 1,369 facilities across zones 1 to 5. Zone 5 is the largest by firms (339) and area (1,925 hectares), and zones 4 and 5 have the largest parcels. Textiles are the biggest group in every zone. Smaller OSBs are in Nizip (mainly food), Oğuzeli and İslahiye. Footwear and furniture zones are planned (Akpirinç and Sandal 2025; İKA; press).

Which countries buy most from Gaziantep?

In 2025 Iraq was the largest market at $1.7 billion, followed by the United States ($1.05 billion), Syria, the United Kingdom, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Libya, Iran and Djibouti (GTO, from TİM data). Asia took 40.8 % and Europe 26.8 %. Carpets go mainly to the United States, while pasta, flour and other cereal products go mainly to Iraq, Syria and Africa (GAİB).

How do Gaziantep exporters usually get paid?

Mostly on cash against goods. In December 2025, 60.9 % of exports registered at GAİB were paid this way, 18.2 % in advance, 17.6 % cash against documents and only 2.8 % by letter of credit (GAİB). Terms are agreed per producer and per order. Whatever you agree, confirm who the producer is, who invoices and which bank account receives payment before you pay.

Sources

• Exports by province and sector, January–December 2025 (TİM)
• Exports by province and sector, January–September 2026 (TİM)
• Türkiye'nin İlk 1000 İhracatçısı 2024 (TİM)
• Registered exports by main product, January–December 2024–2025 (GAİB)
• Carpet statistics, January–December 2025 (GAİB carpet exporters' association)
• Textile and raw materials statistics, January–December 2025 (GAİB textile exporters' association)
• Cereals, pulses, oilseeds and products statistics, January–December 2025 (GAİB cereals exporters' association)
• Export performance of the region's provinces, January–June 2025 (GAİB)
• Export performance of the region's provinces, July–December 2025 (GAİB)
• Monthly economic bulletin, December 2025 (GAİB)
• Dış Ticaret Bülteni, February 2026 (Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce, TİM data)
• Halı Sektör Raporu 2026 (Ministry of Trade)
• Gaziantep Ayakkabı Sektör Raporu 2024 (İpekyolu Development Agency)
• Geographical indications database (Türk Patent)
• Antep Baklavası registration certificate, no. 95 (Türk Patent)
• eAmbrosia: geographical indications register (European Commission)
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1245, Antep Fıstık Ezmesi (EUR-Lex)
• Akpirinç, H. H. and Sandal, E. K. (2025), "Gaziantep'te Sanayi Alt Sektörlerinin Yapısal Profili", Âlemnümâ İnsan ve Toplum 2(3): 87–105 (DergiPark)
• Oğuzeli yeni İnegöl olmayı hedefliyor, 17 February 2025 (Ekonomi Gazetesi, press)