Turkey's foreign trade gap narrows 32% in August

ANKARA

Turkey's foreign trade gap in August shrank 32.4% year-on-year, the country's statistical authority announced on Thursday.

The figure reached $4.3 billion last month, down from a $6.3 billion deficit in August 2020, according to TurkStat.

Turkish exports jumped 52% on a yearly basis to hit $18.9 billion, as imports amounted to $23.2 billion, a rise of 23.6%.

The exports-to-imports coverage ratio advanced to 81.6% this August, up from 66.4% in the corresponding month of last year.

Turkey’s exports to the EU, its main trading partner with a share of 41%, surged by 51% year-on-year to total $7.8 billion this August.

Exports to Asian and African countries, the other two largest export markets for Turkish products, were $4.5 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively, last month.

According to TurkStat, Germany was Turkey's top market, receiving some $1.6 billion worth of exports.

It was followed by the US with $1.3 billion, the UK with $1.2 billion, Iraq with $939 million, and Spain with $839 million.

Turkey's top source of imports in August was China with $2.8 billion. Russia followed with $2.7 billion, Germany with $1.7 billion, and the US with $1.2 billion.

Manufacturing holds greatest share of exports

The data showed that manufacturing accounted for the lion's share of total exports at 95.1%, or $18 billion.

Agriculture and forestry exports, totaling nearly $439 million, covered 2.3%, while mining and quarrying exports had a share of 1.9%, or $351 million.

The share of high technology products in manufacturing industry exports was 3.1% while the shares of medium-high and medium-low technology products were 32.4% and 32.2%, respectively.

Foreign trade gap narrows in January-August

In January-August, Turkey's exports rose slightly by 37% yearly to $140.2 billion, while imports climbed to $170 billion -- a rise of 25.5%.

Thus, the foreign trade deficit over the first eight months of 2021 amounted to $29.8 billion, narrowing by 9.8% from last year.