Profitability and efficiency in the cotton ginning industry: A case study from the Aegean region of Turkey

In order to make a more concrete evaluation of the cotton ginning sector, it is necessary to determine the structural characteristics of the factories, costs and profitability, the level of technical efficiency, and the potential for improvement in the industry. It is felt that this study enables such an evaluation by setting out the costs, profitability and efficiency of the cotton ginning industry in Turkey and other major cotton-producing countries. The results obtained from the study show that unit production costs of ginning factories are high and that they have low operating profits. In particular, it was found that ginning factories do not operate efficiently with regard to the labour force employed and the amount of capital invested. At the same time, some suggestions have been made for the improvement of ginning factories. In this regard, attention was drawn to measures to increase the capacity of ginning factories and to raise the level of technology used, and ways of getting government supports, and to the topic of education.