ISTANBUL: Turkey’s exports soared by 10.2 percent to $157.05 billion in 2017 compared to the previous year, the national statistical body announced yesterday. According to foreign trade data provided by Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) and the Customs and Trade Ministry, Turkey’s foreign trade volume reached $390.84 billion in 2017, an annual increase of 14.56 percent.
Meanwhile, the country’s imports were up 17.7 percent in the said year, reaching $233.79 billion.
The foreign trade deficit amounted to $76.73 billion last year, a 36.8 percent year-on-year increase, the data said. The proportion of imports covered by exports stood at 67.2 percent in 2017, while the same figure was recorded as 71.8 percent in 2016. In 2016, the country’s exports totaled $142.53 billion, imports $198.61 billion and foreign trade deficit stood at $56.09 billion.
TurkStat said Germany was Turkey’s top export market, at $15.12 billion, or a 9.6 percent share of total exports, while $73.94 billion worth of Turkish exports were delivered to the EU’s 28 countries from January to December 2017.
In the same period, Turkey imported the most from China ($23.37 billion), Germany ($21.30 billion), and Russia ($19.51 billion).
The manufacturing industry accounted for the biggest share of total exports, at 93.7 percent, followed by agriculture and forestry (3.4 percent), and mining and quarrying (2.2 percent).
High technology products in manufacturing industry exports represented 3.9 percent. Export shares of medium-high and low technology products accounted for 34.6 and 33.3 percent, respectively.
Intermediate goods represented the lion’s share of imports with 73.3 percent, reaching $171.45 billion, followed by capital goods (14.2 percent, $33.11 billion) and consumption goods (12.2 percent, $28.48 billion). TurkStat data revealed that Turkish imports mostly came from the manufacturing industry (81.6 percent, $190.74 billion), of which $78.43 billion were medium-high tech imports, followed by medium-low tech ($62.14 billion) and high-tech ($28.82 billion).
Among Turkish cities, Istanbul exported the most in 2017 – $81.48 billion – followed by prominent industrial provinces Bursa and Kocaeli. In December, Turkey’s exports rose 8.6 percent year-on-year to reach $13.87 billion, while imports climbed to $23.08 billion – a 25.4 percent hike. The foreign trade deficit was $9.2 billion.
