Turkish exports continue poor performance in March

ISTANBUL

The largest volume of exports was made to Germany, Iraq, Britain, the United States and Italy in March, according to data from the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly. DHA Photo

Turkey’s exports fell 13.4 percent year-on-year in March to $11.23 billion, mainly due to continuing fragilities in the European markets and the fall in euro-dollar parity, the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TİM) said April 1.

TİM releases its figures almost a month before the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), and the two sets of data usually match.

The export figures of Turkey decreased by 6.8 percent to $35.82 billion in the first quarter of the year from the same period of the previous year, according to TİM’s data. 

“As euro-based transactions play a big role in our exports, we saw a slash in $800 million in our exports in January, $900 million in February and $1.3 billion in March  due to fluctuations in the euro-dollar parity,” said TİM head Mehmet Büyükekşi in a written statement on April 1. 

The largest number of exports was made by the automotive sector with $1.77 billion in March, the chemical materials and products sector with $1.35 billion and the readywear and confectionary sector with $1.33 billion. 

Büyükekşi said the strong dollar had hit many countries’ exports negatively. 

“In global trade, some 4-5 percent of regression is expected in 2015 due to the strong dollar. A recent decrease in the Capsize Dry Index and the Global Transportation Index, [as well as] six-year lows, have showed that the contraction in global trade will continue. For instance, Germany’s exports decreased by 15 percent in January from the same month of the previous year, Britain’s exports by 20.5 percent, Spain’s exports by 21.3 percent, Italy’s exports by 18.2 percent and Brazil’s exports by 14.5 percent,” he said.
 
The largest volume of exports was made to Germany, Iraq, Britain, the United States and Italy in March, according to data from the association. Exports to Germany, however, contracted by 18.7 percent, Iraq by 27.9 percent, Britain by 9.7 percent and Italy by 15.1 percent. Turkey’s exports to the U.S. increased by 21.8 percent. 

The most dramatic rise in exports in March was made to the United Arab Emirates with a 39 percent increase. 

But Turkey’s exports to the EU contracted by 17.3 percent in March, to Africa by 10.7 percent, to the Middle East by 6.5 percent and to the former Soviet Union by 21.3 percent. The country’s exports to the Far East increased by 40 percent in March, according to the TİM data. 

Meanwhile, fresh data from TÜİK has shown the country’s foreign trade deficit narrowed in February, but the data does not point to an improvement since it was engineered by a drop in imports rather than an increase in foreign sales. 

In February, the deficit narrowed to $4.65 billion, down from $5.2 billion for the same month last year, a 10 percent decrease, continuing the trend of the previous month, TÜİK data showed on March 31. 
However, TÜİK valued February’s exports at $12.3 billion, a 6 percent decrease year-on-year, while imports also declined to $16.9 billion, a 7.2 percent decrease.