Exports volume falls in November, figures say

Employers work at assembly lines at a production facility of a furniture exporter in the southern province of Antalya. The country’s November exports stand at $10.7 billion. Hürriyet photo

Turkey’s export trade slowed in November compared to the previous month despite a slight increase compared to the same month a year earlier, figures released yesterday show.
Exports fell to $10.7 billion last month from nearly $11.8 billion in October, according to data published by Turkey’s Exporters’ Assembly (TİM) during a press meeting in the northwestern province of Düzce.
However, the nation’s exports rose by 13.9 percent in November when compared to $9.45 billion in the same month last year.
According to official data, in the first 11 months of 2011, Turkey’s total exports rose by 19.7 percent to reach $122.1 billion. Turkey exported goods worth $133.9 billion with a 19.5 percent rise in the last 12 month period.
Germany, Iraq and the United Kingdom remained as the three leading markets for Turkish exports respectively, TİM’s data said.
The Turkish automotive industry generated the highest volume of exports last month with $1.6 billion, while the chemical industry ranked second with $1.2 billion. The third highest exporting industry was ready-to-wear with $1.1 billion.
The data also showed that the country made record exports to some African countries such as Ethiopia, which was up by 311 percent, South Africa by 229 percent, Angola by 206 percent, Nigeria by 199 percent, Ghana by 172 percent and Kenya by 142 percent.
Exports to Iraq in November were up 46 percent and to Russia by 26 percent.
November’s export figures indicate a step toward Turkey’s bid to reach a record $500 billion total export volume by the end of 2023, the 100th anniversary of modern Turkey, said Turkey’s Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan while speaking at a press meeting in Ankara.
“The figures show that we are proceeding toward a new export record step by step,” he said. “This rise in exports at a point when global problems persist and there were some negative projection is really significant.”
He estimated Turkey’s total export volume would total $134.8 billion by the end of this year.