Foreign trade gap narrows 31 percent in January-September

ANKARA

Türkiye's foreign trade deficit narrowed by 31.1 percent on a yearly basis to $60.43 billion this January-September, according to official new figures.

The country's exports totaled $191.75 billion in the nine-month period, up 2.6 percent, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) said on Oct. 31.

Imports to Türkiye fell 8.1 percent on a yearly basis in the same period to $252.18 billion.

The export-import ratio was at 76 percent this January-September, up from 68.1 percent in the same period last year.

On a monthly basis, exports were at $21.98 billion, down 1.9 percent, while imports totaled $27.11 billion, falling 1.4 percent.

Germany remained the largest export market at $1.7 billion, followed by the U.K. at $1.4 billion.

Türkiye’s exports to the U.S. and Iraq amounted to $1.26 billion and $1.13 billion, respectively, in September.

China was the largest supplier of goods to Türkiye as imports from this country amounted to $3.7 billion. Imports from Russia totaled $3.3 billion, while Germany ranked third at $2.5 billion.

The foreign trade deficit was at $5.13 billion in September alone, widening by 0.7 percent compared with the same month of last year.

Excluding energy and gold trade, the foreign trade deficit was $383 million last month.

The country’s consumer goods export surged 12 percent year-on-year to $4.2 billion, while the annual increase in 5.6 percent to $4.4 billion. Intermediate goods imports, however, fell 6.2 percent to $18.4 billion.