ANKARA: Turkey’s exports rose to $10.53 billion in January, a 15 percent increase compared to the same period of 2016 and the highest monthly rise in the last 49 months, the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) announced on Feb. 1. According to data from TİM, the country’s 12-month exports also soared to $143.6 billion in January with a 1.8 percent increase compared to the same period of the previous year. “We have not seen such high monthly increases in our exports in the last 49 months … Our parity losses were $302 million and losses from the fall in export prices were $126 million in January. If we had not faced these losses, our exports would have hit $11 billion in January with a 19.6 percent of year-on-year increase,” said TİM President Mehmet Büyükekşi, as quoted by Reuters. The largest amount of exports was made by the automotive sector with exports worth over $2 billion in January. Thus, the sector achieved to increase its exports by 36.8 percent in January compared to the same month of 2016.
The automotive sector was followed by the ready-made wear and confection sector and chemical materials sector with $1.25 billion and $1.23 billion, respectively. According to the TİM data, the top markets for Turkey were Germany, United Kingdom, Iraq, Italy and United States in January. The exports to Germany saw a 4.1 percent of increase in January compared to the same month of 2016. The exports to the U.K. also increased by 6.4 percent, to Italy by 9.9 percent and the U.S. by 13.6 percent in the mentioned period. The most spectacular development in January was a sharp increase in Turkey’s exports to the Russian market, according to TİM representatives. “Turkey’s exports to Russia saw a 57 percent hike in January compared to the same month of 2016. Our exports to Iraq also increased 42.4 percent in the mentioned period, which was another key development for us,” Büyükekşi said. “Turkey’s exports to Russia saw an increase in January for the first time since the 2015 jet crisis. Turkey made $54 million in exports to Russia last month, around half of which was made by the fresh fruit and vegetable sector. Turkey also made $186 million in exports to Iraq in January,” he added. The government’s 2017 export target is $153.3 billion, according to its medium-term economic program.
