Turkey's April exports decline 33.75 pct

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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The global economic crisis continues to show its impact on Turkey’s economy as the country’s exports continue to contract.

Turkey recorded exports worth $7.53 billion in April, which was a decline of 33.75 percent compared to same period last year, according to latest data Turkish Exporters’ Assembly, or TİM, revealed in Antalya on Friday.

The country’s exports for the first four months of the year totaled $28.5 billion, announced Mehmet Büyükekşi, TİM chairman. As of April Turkey’s exports for the past 12 months totaled 113.35 billion, Anatolia news agency quoted him as saying.

The automotive industry, which has been long suffering from the negative impacts of the global economic crisis, reared up to become the export champion of the month.

The industry brought in $1.24 billion in April. Ready-to-wear and textile industry followed automotive industry’s lead with $996 million. The iron and steel industry moved exports worth $959 million during the period.

The mining industry experienced the biggest drop in exports in April. The industry’s exports dropped 42.24 percent in April compared to the same period last year.

The industry’s exports for the month totaled $169.4 million, while its exports for the past four months were $591 million. The mining industry’s 12-month exports stood at $2.870 billion. Agriculture on the other hand displayed the smallest fall with 0.67 percent. The sector’s exports fort he month totaled $1.15 billion.

In April, industrial exports constituted 84.27 percent of the country’s entire exports. The total worth of Turkey’s industrial exports was $6.34 billion for the month. The country’s industrial exports for the past 4 months totaled $23.83 billion, while the total was $97.75 billion for the past 12 months.

Focusing on neighbors
Also participating in the Antalya press meeting State Minister Kürşad Tüzmen reiterated how important it is to focus on Turkey’s neighbors. The economies of Turkey’s usual importer’s including United States, United Kingdom, Germany and France have contracted significantly due to global turmoil, he said. Therefore Turkey increased exports to Egypt, Syria and Iraq.

Turkey should direct its focus on its neighbors, he urged. "It has no other option," he said. "We aim to obtain $200 billion from our exports in 2013. Our goal for 2023 is $500 billion," he said.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s trade deficit narrowed in March from a year earlier, the seventh consecutive contraction, as demand for foreign imports slumped and the cost of oil fell.

The trade gap contracted to $2.3 billion from $5.4 billion in the year-earlier period, the Ankara-based Turkish Statistical Institute, or TÜİK, said on its Web site Thursday. The deficit was forecast to be $1.4 billion, according to the median estimate of 10 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Turkish industrial production fell in February by the most since records began in 1986 as economic growth slowed and the global credit crunch forced the government to look to the International Monetary Fund for a loan. A slump in energy prices is also helping to reduce the cost of imports.

The narrowing in the deficit comes after the economy declined 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, the first economic contraction in seven years.

Exports fell 28 percent to $8.2 billion in March from a year earlier, TÜİK said. Imports decreased 38 percent to $10.5 billion, the agency said. Crude oil prices were around $50 a barrel in March this year, compared with $100 a barrel a year earlier.