Exports from 45 provinces rise in January

ISTANBUL

Exports from 45 of Türkiye's 81 provinces increased in January compared to the same month of the previous year, the Trade Ministry has said.

Istanbul’s share in the country’s overall export revenues was 21.6 percent or $4.33 billion, down from $4.35 billion in January 2023. Istanbul-based companies shipped $378 million worth of goods to Germany, followed by the United Arab Emirates at $293 million and the U.S. at $233 million.

The northwestern industrial province of Kocaeli ranked second at $2.5 billion, corresponding to 12.5 percent of the country’s exports last month. Shipments from Kocaeli-based companies to foreign markets rose 5.7 percent year-on-year.

İzmir, the country’s third-largest city by population, came third at $1.85 billion or 9.2 percent in total export revenues. Exports by İzmir-based companies rose by 1.3 percent in January compared to the same month of 2023.

Bursa, another industrial province in the country’s northwest, saw its exports inch up 0.4 percent to $1.8 billion, making it the fourth-largest exporting city.

Exports from the southern province of Mersin, on the Mediterranean coast, leaped 31.2 percent to $891 million.

Exports from Gaziantep, one of the provinces affected most in the devastating earthquakes in February last year, increased nearly 4 percent to $743 million, according to the numbers from the ministry.

Adana, another southern province hit by the earthquakes, saw a 1.4 percent rise in exports to $334 million.

Türkiye’s exports exceeded $20 billion last month, marking a 3.6 percent increase from a year ago. The country’s foreign trade deficit shrank nearly 57 percent year-on-year to $6.17 billion.

The 12-month rolling exports amounted to $256.5 billion, while imports over the same period fell 4.1 percent to $354 billion. The 12-month rolling foreign trade deficit was 97.9 billion as of January.