September exports increase 7.4 percent

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkey’s monthly preliminary exports amounted to $11.41 billion in September, representing a 7.4 percent year-on-year increase, according to data disclosed yesterday by the Turkish Exporters’ Association.

Exports had declined 4.6 percent year-on-year in August.

With the preliminary September figure, export growth in the first nine months of the year reached 12.1 percent compared to the same period last year.

“The weakening in export performance in July and August appears to have ended in September. However, the growth rate is still below the export performance in the first half of the year,” the chief economist at the BGC Partners, Özgür Altuğ, said yesterday in a note to customers.

“Declining exports to Europe, the fall in the Euro against the U.S. dollar, and tension in Middle East appear to be the main factors behind the relatively weak export performance,” he said.

The Turkish automotive sector registered the highest exports last month at $1.5 billion, while the jewelry sector recorded the highest export increase at 57.6 percent month-on-month, reaching a volume of $180.5 million. Defense sector exports increased by 48.2 percent, to $94.7 million in September.

PMI improves
Operating conditions in Turkey’s manufacturing sector improved for the first time in three months in September, with new orders returning to growth and output increasing at a faster pace, a survey showed yesterday. The HSBC Turkey Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) stood at 52.2 in September, up from 50.0 in August, signaling the first improvement of business conditions in the sector since June, according to Reuters. The increase in new orders during September was only marginal. New business from abroad has increased in 10 of the last 11 months, the survey showed.