Exports climbed to $23.6 billion in March

ISTANBUL

Türkiye’s exports showed a 4.4 percent increase in March from a year ago to stand at $23.6 billion, the preliminary data from the Trade Ministry have shown.

This marked an all-time-high March figure in exports, Trade Minister Mehmet Muş said.

“We expect the impact from the earthquakes on production and exports to wane further in the coming months,” Muş said.

In March, the country’s exports grew 4.2 percent on an annual basis to $32.2 billion. Consequently, the foreign trade deficit widened 3.7 percent from March 2022 to stand at $8.6 billion.

The export/import coverage ratio improved slightly from 73.2 percent in March last year to 73.4 percent last month.

When energy imports are excluded, the export/import coverage ratio was down 9.3 points from March 2022 to 85.4 percent, and when energy and gold imports are excluded, the ratio was 89.8 percent in the last month.

Germany was the largest export market for Türkiye in March, with shipments to this country amounting to $2 billion. The U.S. and Italy were the second and third largest export markets at $1.4 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively.

The share of the top 10 countries in Türkiye’s total exports was 47.5 percent, according to the data from the Trade Ministry.

The manufacturing sector accounted for 94.9 percent or $2.4 billion of Türkiye’s export revenues, while the shares of agriculture and mining were 3.3 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

Türkiye generated $11.9 billion and $8.5 billion in revenues from intermediate and consumer goods exports, respectively, while revenues from capital goods exports amounted to $2.8 billion.

In 2022, Türkiye’s exports reached a record $254 billion, increasing nearly 13 percent from the prior year.

Last month, Türkiye made nearly $4 billion worth of imports from Russia. Imports from China were $3.8 billion, and Germany came third at $2.7 billion.

In the first quarter of 2023, exports climbed 2.5 percent from the same period of 2022 to $61.6 billion. With imports rising 11.4 percent annually to $96.5 billion, the country’s foreign trade balance produced a deficit of $34.9 billion, up 31.5 percent from a year ago.

The government’s latest edition of the medium-term program, covering 2023-2025, forecasts that exports will climb to $265 billion this year and further to $285 billion in 2024.

According to the program, the energy import bill will shrink to $85 billion in 2023 and decline to $76.3 billion next year.