UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS
By Tuba Sahin
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's exports in the first two months of 2018 rose 9.8 percent year-on-year to reach $25.6 billion, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced Friday.
The country's foreign trade volume totaled $66.1 billion between January and February this year, marking a 20 percent annual increase, according to provisional data provided by TurkStat and the Ministry of Customs and Trade.
Turkish imports climbed 28.8 percent to $40.5 billion, amounting to a foreign trade deficit of $14.8 billion over the same period.
The proportion of imports covered by exports was 63.3 percent in the period of January-February this year, while it was 74.3 percent during the same period of 2017.
TurkStat showed that Turkey's exports to the EU rose 23.4 percent year-on-year, to $13.4 billion during the same period.
Germany was the main recipient of Turkish exports with trade reaching some $2.7 billion from January to February. Italy with $1.60 billion, the U.K. with $1.59 billion and the U.S. with $886 million followed.
Turkish imports — worth $4 billion — mostly came from China. Imports from Russia amounted to $3.86 billion, from Germany $3.92 billion and from the U.S. $2 billion.
– Exports rose 9 percent in February
In the two-month period, manufacturing made up the most of Turkish exports, with a 93 percent share and a value worth $23.8 billion.
Agriculture and forestry exports ($1.02 billion) amounted to a 4 percent share and mining and quarrying exports, a 2.1 percent share, i.e. 542 million.
The share of medium-high technology products in manufacturing industries exports was 36.9 percent, followed by low tech industries (33.9 percent) and medium-low technologies (25.9 percent).
Official figures showed that the ratio of intermediate goods’ products in total imports was 76.7 percent and worth $31.02 billion.
In February, Turkey's exports rose 9 percent to $13.2 billion and imports climbed to $19 billion, up 19.7 percent, compared to same month in 2017.
Foreign trade deficit surged to $5.76 billion last month, marking a 54.2 percent increase compared with February 2017.
“In February 2018, exports coverage imports was 69.6 percent while it was 76.4 percent in February 2017, ” TurkStat said.
It also revealed that exports to its main market, the EU-28, increased by 23.8 percent year-on-year, to $6.84 billion, last month.
The proportion of the EU in Turkey's exports was 51.9 percent in February while it was 45.7 percent in the same month last year.