Turkey’s exports decrease by 8 pct in first half of 2015 due to forex changes, geopolitical risks: Association

ISTANBUL - Reuters

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Turkey’s exports decreased 8.1 percent in the first half of the year to $73.26 billion from the same period of 2014, due to the negative effects of parities on exports and geopolitical risks in neighboring countries, the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TİM) announced on July 1. 

The country’s exports decreased by 6.4 percent to $11.7 billion in June compared to the same month of 2014. The year-on-year exports stood at $150.8 billion, according to the TİM data. 

“A decrease of some 18 percent in euro-U.S. dollar parity in June from the same month of 2014 led to around a $1.2 billion loss in Turkey’s monthly exports. The loss upon the forex changes reached $6.8 billion in the first half of the year,” said TİM President Mehmet Büyükekşi. 

He said the country’s exports decreased by 6.4 percent in June on the dollar basis, but increased by 5.4 percent on the amount basis compared to the same month of the previous year. 

He also noted Turkey’s exports to the European Union regressed by 5.5 percent on the dollar basis, but increased by 14.7 percent on the euro basis. 

Büyükekşi said exporters expected betters results in the second half of the year. 

“The Greek crisis’ effect on our exports will be limited. If the crisis, however, spills over into some other European countries with high debt levels, such as Italy, Portugal or Spain, the situation will be worsening,” he said. 

The highest level of exports was made to Germany, Britain, Iraq, Italy and France in June, but the exports to these countries regressed by 8 percent on average, according to the TİM data. 

The automotive sector made the highest exports in June, with around $2 billion worth of exports, but the export volume of the sector decreased by 2.7 percent compared to the same month of 2014. Other champion export sectors were the ready-made textiles sector and the chemical products sector. 

In the first half of the year, the highest exports were also made by the automotive sector, which made $10.5 billion worth of exports.