Serving the many industries of Turkey, the domestic chemical industry is expanding steadily and has started to attract foreign investments too. From the early days of import substitution policies in the 1960s through to the ultra aggressive export promotion policy of Prime Minister Turgut Ozal in the 1980s, the chemical industry has played a key part in the country’s industrial development and is today integrated into the supply chain of national industries especially, textiles and the automotive sector, while also scoring the occasional export sale in a region where Turkey is both a gateway and an almost compulsory point of transit. The industry achieves an overall turnover of $18-20 billion yearly. Domestic production totals $11 billion, with imports of $9 billion to top up the bill, and chemical products exports reach $1.5 billion, or $3.5 billion including intermediaries. The industry, employing 50,000 people across 6,000 small and medium-sized enterprises, is a key component of the Turkish industry, both from the perspective of its relative size and importance for the economy, and as a part of the overall Turkish supply chain and industrial fabric. It has gone from strength to strength.