UPDATES WITH MORE COMMENTS AND FIGURES
By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's exports in July showed an annual hike of 11.8 percent, the Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TIM) announced on Wednesday.
Last month, the country's exports totaled $14.1 billion — the highest figure ever for the month of July.
Speaking at a press conference at Turkey's Trade Ministry, TIM head Ismail Gulle said Turkey's exports from January to July totaled $96.3 billion.
Gulle said that the seven-month exports showed a 7 percent yearly increase, while the 12-month overall exports rose 8.1 percent on a yearly basis, reaching $163.3 billion.
According to the statistical authority, Turkey's exports hit an all-time high of $157.6 billion in 2014. Last year they amounted to nearly $157 billion.
“Breaking by exports down country group, the EU became our top market last month, as usual, ” Gulle said. “Exports to the EU rose 15 percent in July to $6.9 billion. ”
“The share of EU countries in our exports was 48.7 percent, ” he said.
Gulle also noted that Turkish products were exported to 223 countries last month, and exports to 170 of these markets went up.
“Hopefully, we will break a new record in exports by exceeding $170 billion by the end of this year, ” he added.
TIM figures showed the automotive industry was the leading sector with exports worth $2.76 billion in July, followed by ready-made garments and apparel with some $1.6 billion and chemical products with nearly $1.5 billion.
Defense and aerospace industry exports rose 77 percent year-on-year in July, showing the best performance among all sectors.
This January to July, the top export market for Turkish products was Germany with $9.36 billion, accounting for 9.98 percent of total exports this year.
Germany was followed by the U.K. ($6.18 billion), Italy ($5.71 billion), the U.S. ($4.64 billion), and Spain with around $4.5 billion.
Of the 12-month overall exports, TIM members' exports amounted to some $22.4 billion in agriculture, around $131 billion in industry, and nearly $4.7 billion in mining.