ANKARA: Turkey’s exports surged by 19 percent and reached $13.616 billion in March, according to the provisional data released by the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TIM) on Saturday. TIM Chairman Mehmet Bütükekşi stated that the rise in March was the highest since November 2012, and the average increase in exports in the first three months of 2017 was 6.7 percent. Exports in the last 12 months also increased by 2.4 percent and reached $144.8 billion, he added. “With the recovering global economy and the support and incentives of our government, Turkey’s exports started to rise again in 2017,” Büyükekşi noted. The Automotive sector was again the leading sector with $2.7 billion worth exports in March, which was followed by the clothing sector with $1.537 billion and chemicals with $1.531 billion. The highest sectorial exports increase was in ship and yacht construction with 87.3 percent, which was followed by jewelry with 75.4 percent.
Manufacturing exports – which made up 64 percent of all exports in March – increased by 20.6 percent compared to the same month last year and reached $8.72 billion. Agriculture and mining exports also increased by 9.9 percent and 44.1 percent, respectively. Germany was the main destination of Turkey’s exports, which was followed by the U.K., Iraq, Italy and the U.S. Exports to all top five export partners increased by 9.5 percent, 17 percent, 36.1 percent, 35.5 percent and 35.7 percent, respectively.
Exports to the Far East increased by 91 percent and topped the region list, while exports Asia increased by 44 percent. Exports to the EU-28, Turkey’s main trade partner, increased by 20 percent. Exports to Russia, which were greatly affected by the jet downing crisis last year, also increased by 45.3 percent in March, whereas the increase in the first three months of the year reached 40.3 percent. However, exports to the Netherlands, Iran and Egypt, the countries with which Turkey has political problems, decreased by 8.5 percent, 17.1 percent and 13.3 percent. The largest increase in the country’s exports among the top 30 markets was seen in Malta and Portugal with 95.9 percent and 92.1 percent respectively. The exports to Singapore increased by 340.5 percent and to China by 73 percent in March.
Commenting on Turkey’s growth rate in last quarter of 2016, TIM Chairman said that the rate was below the country’s potential. “But the growth rate came better than expected. The growth reinforced that macro fundamentals of the Turkish economy is strong. We continue to grow despite the failed coup attempt, terrorist incidents, and rating cuts by the international agencies. We believe that we will achieve much higher growth figures this year with incentive packages given by our government,” Büyükekşi said. On Friday, the Turkish Statistical Institute said that Turkey’s economy expanded at the rate of 2.9 percent in 2016. The country’s fourth-quarter GDP reading was also substantially higher than the experts’ median estimates, coming in at 3.5 percent compared with the 2.4 percent Anadolu Agency’s survey prediction.
