Exports top $187 billion in nine months

ANKARA

Türkiye’s exports amounted to $187.5 billion in the first nine months of 2023, data from the Trade Ministry have shown.

Despite the weak course of production and trade in the world this year and the earthquake disaster Türkiye experienced in February, the country’s exports continue their resilient course, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat said on the social media platform X.

“We achieved the highest September export figure in the history of our Republic,” he said.

According to the data from the ministry, exports inched up 0.3 percent in September from a year ago to $22.67 billion.

The country’s total export revenues in the January-September period fell slightly by 0.3 percent year-on-year.

The 12-month rolling exports stood at $253.5 billion, while the trade deficit was $114 billion, the data from the ministry showed.

“As the Trade Ministry, we will continue to support our exporters in order to achieve our foreign trade targets by at least doubling our budget and supports in 2024,” Bolat said.

In its latest medium-term program released last month, the government projects that exports will climb to $267 billion next year and rise further to $283.6 billion in 2025. The government’s export revenue target for 2026 is $302.2 billion.

In September alone, imports plunged 14.1 percent year-on-year to $27.7 billion, the Trade Ministry said.

Consequently, the foreign trade deficit last month shrank more than 48 percent from a year ago to $4.99 billion.

The export/import coverage ratio improved from 70.2 percent in September last year to 82 percent. Excluding energy, the coverage ratio was 95.3 percent, the ministry said.

As was the case in the previous months, Germany was Türkiye’s largest export market, with shipments to this country amounting to $1.9 billion in September.

The U.S. ranked second at over $1.2 billion, followed by Iraq and Italy at $1.2 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively. The U.K. bought more than $1 billion worth of goods from Türkiye last month.

Türkiye’s imports from China and Russia amounted to $3.7 billion and $3.2 billion, respectively. Germany came third with $2.4 billion.

Intermediate goods imports plunged nearly 24 percent to $19.75 billion, but consumer goods imports leaped 37 percent to $3.8 billion in September. Capital goods imports of Türkiye rose 15 percent to $4.1 billion.

From January to September, the country spent $275 billion on imports, up 1.3 percent year-on-year.

The trade deficit in the first nine months of 2023 widened 5 percent from a year ago to $87.3 billion.