Turkey last year became the world's largest exporter of woven carpets, construction iron, radiators, women's suits, blouses, and shirts, Chairman of Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) Mehmet Büyükekşi has said. Büyükekşi also said that Turkey was ranked third in bus and minibus exports, fourth in dishwashers fifth in washing machines, seventh in television, eighth in the men's suits and refrigerators, ninth in leather, welt clothing, electric heaters and commercial cargo vehicles, and tenth in engine parts.

In terms of market diversity, Turkey's furniture sector had the greatest success as it exported products to more than 177 countries. It was followed by the iron and steel with 172 countries, glass sector with 165 countries, refrigerator and ceramic with 159 countries, dishwasher and electrical heaters with 152 countries, shoes with 149 countries and motor parts with 143 export destinations, the TİM chairman said.

He said that between 2000 and 2017 Turkey has had more than 201,651 exporters who did business for at least over a one year period.

"The number of companies doing non-stop exporting over the past 17 years is unfortunately 4,577, which corresponds to just 2.2 percent of the total number. The number should be much higher.

"The 4,577 companies in question realized more than 52 percent of all exports in 2017. A total of 70,000 companies were on the exporter's list last year which means the rest of the companies only realized the 48 percent of the exports."

Meanwhile, Turkey's total exports last year also soared 10.2 percent from 2016, reaching $157.05 billion, Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced last week.

According to TurkStat's foreign trade data and the Customs and Trade Ministry, Turkey's foreign trade volume reached $390.84 billion in 2017, with an annual increase of 14.56 percent.

On the other hand, Turkey's exports in January soared by 16.3 percent compared to the same period of the last year, reaching around $12.2 billion, TİM said on Feb. 1. It added that January 2018 was the third best of all time in terms of export volume.

The TİM Chairman said that all the provinces in Turkey contributed to exports last year. He recalled that Bayburt did not export anything in 2014, followed by Kars in 2015 and Bayburt again in 2016. He added that before 2017, the last time Turkey's all 81 provinces contributed to exports was back in 2013.

He also said that some smaller towns and cities entered the exporters' list for the first time last year.

"In 2017, Amasya exported flour to Congo, Erzincan exported wall insulation material to Brazil, Kocaeli ship paint to Palau, Malatya shipped bakery equipment to Bangladesh, and Samsun sold sterile surgical products to Laos."

Büyükekşi highlighted that a few Turkish companies were leading the global market in different sectors.

"One company controls almost 72 percent of the global boron market, while another Turkish company holds 22 percent of the market in sodium dichromate. One Turkish company controls 8 percent of the world silk cocoon market and another control 8 percent of the dimethyl terephthalate market. Turkish companies also control 7 percent of the prepared or canned snails market, as well as 5 percent of the battleship exports," he said.

He revealed that one Turkish company achieved more than $1.2 billion in automobile exports to Italy, one-fifth of the total exports to the country.

Ranking the most valuable and the cheapest export products of 2017, Büyükekşi said each kilogram of jewelry was exported at an average of $721, followed by defense and aerospace with $39, apparel with $15, leather and leather goods with $11, and tobacco with $7.64.

In comparison, the cheapest was cement, ceramic and soil products priced at 14 cents and mining products at 19 cents per kilogram.

"The average price of a kilogram of fresh fruit or vegetable products was 56 cents, while steel was sold at 64 cents a kilo. Cereals, pulses, and oilseeds were sold at an average of 72 cents per kilogram," he concluded.