Turkey’s exports hit 6-year high growth rate in July

MANİSA

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Turkey’s exports soared over 31 percent annually to reach nearly $11.5 billion in July; the highest growth rate in the last six years, a leading sector association announced on Aug. 1.

A failed coup last July hit the country’s exports in a steep manner.

The Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TİM) said in a statement that the value of total exports for the last 12 months also increased by 7.5 percent to over $150 billion, compared to the same period last year.    
    
Mehmet Büyükekşi, who heads TİM, said the country’s exports totaled nearly 89 billion in the first seven months of the year, up by 10.7 percent compared to the same period last year. 

While Turkey’s automotive exports saw a 41.1 percent year-on-year increase in July, the country’s exports to Germany, its top market, soared 28 percent in the mentioned period. 

Among the top 20 countries for Turkey’s exports in July, Russia showed the highest 95.7 percent increase, Büyükekşi noted at a meeting in the Aegean province of Manisa to launch the export figures.

Turkey’s exports to the European Union showed a 29.1 percent year-on-year increase, taking a share of 51.1 percent in Turkey’s total exports. 

The organization added that Turkish exports to the top five countries, namely Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Iraq and the United States, were all on the rise. 

“Germany remained in first place among the five countries, with a 28.2 percent increase in exports this month. We are happy to see that the latest political tensions between the two countries did not affect our trade,” Büyükekşi said. 

“We will not let anyone destroy the environment which contributes to our gross domestic product (GDP) growth,” Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said.

In July, the automotive sector contributed to the highest exports with $2.4 billion.    
  
It was followed by the clothing and chemical sectors which contributed $1.5 billion and $1.2 billion respectively in the month. 

The most remarkable increase among industrial products was seen in the ship and yacht sector exports, which enjoyed a four-fold rise.