Turkey's trade gap in machinery sector falls by half

ISTANBUL

With machinery exports hitting $17.9 billion in 2019, Turkey's foreign trade deficit in the sector was cut in half from $10 billion to $5 billion, the Machinery Exporters' Association (MAIB) said on Monday.

In 2019, the export/import coverage ratio was 76.3% in the Turkish machinery sector, one of the country's three largest export sectors, the group announced.

"Countries which don't want to lose their technological edge are buying fewer machines from abroad," said Kutlu Karavelioglu, head of the MAIB.

"In 2019 we exported 300,000 more tons of machines and managed to boost our export revenues by more than $720 million."

He added that Turkish machines' good reputation fueled the sector's success.

In 2019, exports were dominated by freezers, internal combustion engines and their parts, washers and dryers, construction and mining devices, pumps, and compressors.

Turkey's overall exports last year were nearly $180.5 billion.