Why Türkiye in 2026
- Earthquake reconstruction. The 6 February 2023 earthquakes hit 11 provinces. By 27 December 2025 the government reported 455,357 homes and workplaces handed over, with 105,179 more homes, village houses and workplaces still to come, the largest share in Hatay and Kahramanmaraş (Anadolu Agency). Mass housing carries little ducted HVAC; the duct work is in the hospitals, schools, public buildings and shops rebuilt around it, mostly low and medium pressure rectangular duct.
- City hospitals (PPP). Türkiye's health public-private partnership programme, which the EBRD has described as a EUR 12 billion programme, produced some of the largest hospital campuses in Europe: Ankara Bilkent City Hospital (3,704 beds, opened March 2019), Başakşehir Çam and Sakura City Hospital in Istanbul (opened 2020, more than 2,600 beds on 2,068 seismic isolators) and İzmir City Hospital in Bayraklı (2,060 beds). Operating theatres, isolation rooms and intensive care need tight, tested ductwork, and these campuses keep generating refit work after handover.
- Data centres. Digital Realty and Rönesans announced a joint venture in September 2026 whose first campus, in Ankara, has more than 22 MW of IT capacity and is due in 2028, with an Istanbul site planned. ENKA's Tuzla data centre in Istanbul (six halls) is under construction with commissioning targeted for late 2026, and Damac Digital and Vodafone Türkiye run a data centre in Izmir. Data halls use large rectangular supply and return duct and plenty of large-diameter spiral.
- Commercial work in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Offices, malls, hotels and logistics buildings are the everyday base load.
- Turkish contractors abroad. 45 Turkish companies were on ENR's 2025 Top 250 International Contractors list, the second-highest count of any country. When a Turkish shop supplies duct to an overseas job, the specification is set by the client's consultant, and in the Gulf that is often SMACNA rather than EN.
Standards and codes Turkish ductwork is built to
- TS EN 1507: strength and leakage of rectangular sheet metal duct. Turkish public-works unit-price specifications require galvanised duct to be leakage tested to TS EN 1507 and the Building Energy Performance Regulation (Binalarda Enerji Performansı Yönetmeliği), at the pressure class the designer states on the drawings.
- TS EN 12237: strength and leakage of circular sheet metal duct. The same specifications call for spiral duct and gasketed fittings to this standard.
- EN 1505 and EN 1506: dimensions for rectangular and circular duct and fittings. TSE has been a full CEN member since 2012 and publishes European standards nationally as TS EN.
- TS EN 10346: continuously hot-dip coated steel sheet, the galvanised sheet reference in those same specifications.
- TBDY 2018 (Türkiye Building Earthquake Code): mechanical seismic specifications ask for restraint calculations to TBDY 2018 or an equivalent international code.
- SMACNA: common on US-led projects and on many Gulf jobs. Many shops run EN and SMACNA recipes side by side. See our standards comparison and leakage classes explained.
Local machine or imported line: how to decide
Türkiye is not an empty market for duct machinery. Istanbul has duct-machine builders that have made rectangular and round duct machines since the mid-2000s and export to Europe and the Middle East. For a lot of shops, a Turkish-built machine is the right call: service engineers a short drive away, manuals and training in Turkish, prices in lira and no customs paperwork.
An imported line earns its place in narrower cases:
- A specification the local offer does not cover, for example large-diameter spiral for data halls, or a coil-fed rectangular line that feeds, beads, notches and shears automatically.
- A full shop bought at once. When you need an auto duct line, spiral tubeformer, TDF flange machine, lockformer, plasma table and folder together, one supplier, one commissioning visit and one set of spare parts can be simpler than five.
- Output per operator. With the 2026 minimum wage at TRY 33,030 gross per month (up 27% on 2025) and skilled sheet metal workers paid well above that, automation that removes manual layout and handling pays back faster than it did a few years ago.
Compare like with like. Put each quote on the same footing: output per shift for your duct mix, gauge range, landed cost in Türkiye (freight, duty, VAT, broker and TAREKS fees), commissioning days, spare-parts lead time and who answers the phone at 7 am when a line stops. If the local machine wins on that sheet, buy it. Our 47-point buyer's checklist and 5-year TCO model help you build the comparison.
Importing a duct machine into Türkiye
- Customs Union. Türkiye and the EU have shared a customs union for industrial products since 1996. EU-origin machines enter duty-free; machines from other countries follow Türkiye's tariff schedule, which is generally based on the EU Common External Tariff. Metal-forming machines fall under HS heading 8462, where EU-aligned base rates are low, but Türkiye also applies additional customs duties to certain products from certain countries. Get your broker to confirm the exact rate for the 10-digit code before you sign.
- VAT. The standard rate is 20% (raised from 18% on 10 July 2023), charged on the CIF value plus duty.
- CE marking and TAREKS. Türkiye's Machinery Safety Regulation transposes EU Directive 2006/42/EC, so CE marking with a Declaration of Conformity is the conformity route for machinery. Import checks run through the TAREKS system, and Communiqué 2026/32 on machinery imports, published on 31 December 2025, sets which products need prior checks or physical inspection and which documents (invoice, technical file, conformity documents, photos) must be uploaded. Taokron machines are CE marked with a Declaration of Conformity; we supply the documents your broker asks for.
- Packing. Machines ship in ISPM-15 treated crates, by container to Mersin, Ambarlı (Istanbul) or Izmir, whichever is closest to your shop.
Our guide to importing duct machinery covers inspection, freight and commissioning.
Power supply
Turkish mains is 230 V at 50 Hz, and industrial three-phase supply is 400 V at 50 Hz, the same as most of Europe. Machines for Turkish shops are wired for 400 V three-phase, 50 Hz, with motors and controls rated to match. Tell us your connection size so we can check it against the full machine load.
Typical shop set-ups and which machines fit
- Contractor shop, mixed rectangular work (hospital refits, offices): SBAL-III auto duct line or SBAL-II, a lockformer, a TDF flange forming machine, a hydraulic folder and a plasma table for fittings.
- Volume rectangular shop (reconstruction programmes, large commercial): SBAL-V auto duct line feeding auto corner making and corner inserting, plus a duct zipper to close seams.
- Round duct for data centres and industrial ventilation: SBTF-1500, SBTF-1602 or SBTF-2020 (up to 2500 mm) spiral tubeformers, with a spiral duct flanging machine for flanged joints. Our SBTF-1602 at Kavanagh Industries, Sydney (October 2026) makes round duct from 80 to 1600 mm.
- Supporting cutting and forming: a hydraulic shear for blanks and heavy gauge. See the spiral tubeformer spec comparison to size round-duct capacity.
Labour and space
Labour is the reason automation is moving up Turkish shops' lists. The 2026 minimum wage is TRY 33,030 gross (TRY 28,075 net) per month, a 27% rise on 2025, and experienced duct fitters and line operators cost more than that. An auto duct line lets one or two operators do what used to need a crew at a layout bench, shear, notcher and brake.
Plan space around the longest machine. The SBAL-V line is about 14.5 m long and 5 m wide on its spec sheet, before you add coil storage and an outfeed area; an SBTF-1500 tubeformer is about 3.4 m by 2.1 m plus its run-out table. As a rough guide, a shop with one auto line, a spiral tubeformer, TDF, lockformer and plasma table needs on the order of 1,000 to 1,500 m² under a crane or with forklift access, and many Turkish fabricators find that space in organised industrial zones (OSB) around Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.
Seeing machines before you buy
ISK-SODEX is Türkiye's main HVACR exhibition, held every two years at the Istanbul Expo Center; the 2025 edition ran from 22 to 25 October and the organisers reported about 1,000 exhibiting brands at the 2023 edition. Taokron will exhibit at the 2027 edition, 19-22 October, in Hall 8, Stand E12 (see the show page). Until then, to see our machines running, ask for videos or a live video call on WhatsApp +61 435 074 994 or at [email protected]. We reply within 12 hours; installation and commissioning are quoted per engineer-day.
Taokron Türkiye-ready package
- 400 V three-phase, 50 Hz wiring
- CE marking with Declaration of Conformity, plus the technical file documents your broker needs for TAREKS
- ISPM-15 crating, shipping to Mersin, Ambarlı or Izmir
- Machines built since 1995, installed in 100+ countries, ISO 9001:2015 factory, 60+ patents
Get a Türkiye-ready Taokron quotation →
FAQ
Which ductwork standards do Turkish projects use?
Domestic specifications call for leakage testing to TS EN 1507 (rectangular) and TS EN 12237 (round) at the pressure class the designer sets, with EN 1505 and EN 1506 covering dimensions. Gulf, US-led and international jobs often follow SMACNA instead.
Do imported duct machines need CE marking in Türkiye?
Yes. Türkiye transposed the EU Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC as its Machinery Safety Regulation, so machinery placed on the Turkish market needs CE marking and a Declaration of Conformity. Import conformity checks run through the TAREKS system, and Communiqué 2026/32 on machinery imports was published on 31 December 2025. Ask your customs broker which inspection list your machine falls under.
What VAT and duty apply to duct machinery imported into Türkiye?
The standard VAT rate has been 20% since 10 July 2023, charged on the CIF value plus duty. Under the EU-Turkey Customs Union, industrial goods from the EU enter duty-free, and goods from other countries follow a tariff schedule based on the EU Common External Tariff. Türkiye also applies additional customs duties to some products from some countries, so confirm the exact rate for your HS code with a broker before you order.
What voltage should a duct machine be wired for in Türkiye?
Mains supply is 230 V at 50 Hz, and industrial three-phase supply is 400 V at 50 Hz. Taokron wires machines for Turkish shops at 400 V three-phase, 50 Hz. Confirm the supply at your site before the order is finalised.
Should I buy a Turkish-built duct line or an imported one?
For a standard rectangular line with local service, Türkiye's experienced local builders are often the sensible choice. An import makes more sense for a specification the local offer does not cover, such as large-diameter spiral or a fully automatic coil line, or for a whole shop commissioned as one package. Compare landed cost, output per shift, spare-parts lead time and commissioning days, not ex-works price alone.
Is ISK-SODEX the right show to see duct machinery in Türkiye?
ISK-SODEX, held every two years at the Istanbul Expo Center (the 2025 edition ran 22 to 25 October), is Türkiye's main HVACR exhibition and a good place to compare local suppliers. Taokron will exhibit at ISK-SODEX Istanbul 2027 (19-22 October, Hall 8, Stand E12); before then, ask for machine videos or a video call on WhatsApp +61 435 074 994.
