One of the driving forces of the Turkish economy, automotive industry exports hit $2.9 billion in October, marking a year-on-year rise of 11 percent. This figure was the second-highest export figure after the record of $3.1 billion in March on a monthly basis, according to Uludağ Automotive Industry Exporters' Association (OİB) data. Meanwhile, the share of the automotive industry in total exports stood at 19 percent. As far as product groups go, exports by the automotive subindustry grew by 3 percent to $939 million, private car exports by 10 percent to $1.19 billion, motor vehicles for goods transport by 5 percent to $471 million and bus-minibus-midibus by 26 percent to $178 million.

On the country basis, exports to Germany, the largest market, decreased by 2 percent, while exports to the U.S. rose by 24 percent, to Poland by 15 percent, to Morocco by 40 percent, to Algeria by 122 percent and to Slovenia by 48 percent. Also, exports to Romania, Spain and Iran, which are among the major markets, dropped by 12 percent, 10 percent and 75 percent, respectively.

Exports to the European Union, the largest market on the basis of the groups of countries, went up by 13 percent, reaching $2.27 billion in October. European Union countries had a 78 percent share in exports. While exports to African countries, which are among alternative markets, soared by 60 percent, exports to Middle Eastern countries plummeted by 41 percent.

The automotive industry exported $433 million worth of goods to Germany, up by 4 percent, which is the largest market on a national basis, followed by Italy, the second-largest market, with $278 million with a 3 percent rise. On the other hand, exports to France tumbled by 7 percent to $269 million.

OİB Chairman Baran Çelik stated that exports in the automotive industry reached $26.3 billion with a 12.5 percent upsurge in the first 10 months of the year.

Expressing that the average export volume of the automotive industry was $2.6 billion in the January-October period, Çelik said, "In October, exports of private cars and bus-midibus-minibus increased by double digits, while exports of towing ve

hicles continued to increase at high rates. Exports to European Union countries and African countries increased by 13 percent and 60 percent, respectively."