Kocaeli, an industrial port city in northwestern Turkey, registered $1.3 billion in exports in January, achieving its highest export figure ever in this month.

Holding a 13 percent share of the Turkish manufacturing industry on its own, Kocaeli increased its exports by 34 percent year-on-year in the said month, according to data from the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM).

The same figure stood at over $1 billion in 2012, $1.1 billion in 2013 and slightly over $1 billion in 2017. Thus, the city had seen export figures exceeding $1 billion three times. With the performance it displayed in January this year, it made the best start to the year in its history.

Ranking second after Istanbul in the export league, Kocaeli delivered products to 149 countries and 12 free zones in this period, covering 10.2 percent of the overall exports on its own.

The automotive industry in the city, which hosts the production facilities of Ford Otosan, Hyundai Assan, Honda Turkey and Anadolu Isuzu, as well as a number of industrial supply firms, made the biggest contribution to the city's exports.

Last month, 44 percent of Kocaeli's exports, corresponding to $579.56 million were carried out by companies operating in the automotive industry. In the same period, the export performance of Kocaeli, which conducted the largest automotive exports after Istanbul, surged by 50 percent compared to last year.

On the other hand, thanks to the İzmit Refinery of TÜPRAŞ oil, the country's largest industrial enterprise, which has an annual capacity of processing 11 million tons of crude oil, and the Fuel Oil Transportation Facility, which processes nearly 4.5 tons of black oil on a yearly basis, the chemical industry came in second in Kocaeli's exports. The exports of chemical products in city amounted to $423.43 million with a 33 percent rise.

The steel industry ranked third with $77.96 million followed by iron and non-ferrous metals with $65.85 million, electrical and electronics with $46.68 million and air-conditioning with $36.97 million.

The industrial city made the largest exports to the U.K. with $139.53 million in January, up by 64 percent compared to the same month last year.

Germany, one of the five largest economies in the world and considered to the locomotive of the EU, ranked second with $112.43 million, up by 35 percent year-on-year. Spain ranked third with $101.99 million, followed by Slovenia with $97.35 million and Italy with $92.12 million.