Türkiye’s exports registered the highest November level ever, official data showed Saturday, the fifth consecutive monthly peak that propels the country a step closer to achieving its best annual sales to foreign markets ever.
Outbound shipments rose 5.2% year-over-year to more than $23 billion (TL 664.70 billion), while imports fell 5.6% to $28.93 billion, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat told an event in Istanbul to announce the preliminary trade figures.
"Thus, just as in July, August, September and October, we have broken our all-time highest export record in November," Bolat said.
The trade deficit – the difference between what Türkiye sells and what it buys in foreign markets – continued to narrow in November, falling 32.6% year-over-year to $5.9 billion.
It marks a fourth consecutive month of decline in the shortfall, Bolat said.
The government endorses policies aimed at shifting from chronic deficits to a current account surplus through more robust exports and investments.
"Our import figures are decreasing, and we achieved a surplus in the current account in September. While we had a small deficit in August, we expect our current account balance to be roughly balanced monthly in October and November."
The current account is the most complete measure of trade because it includes investment flows and trade in merchandise and services. A deficit means Türkiye is consuming more from overseas than it is selling abroad.
The gap stood at $40.8 billion in the January-September period. The 12-month rolling deficit amounted to $51.7 billion. The government’s medium-term program sees it at nearly $43 billion at the end of the year.
"According to our observations from October and November’s foreign trade figures, we see a balanced situation. Hopefully, we will close the year with a figure close to the medium-term program target," said Bolat.
The export-import coverage ratio rose 8.2 points to 79.5% in November, he noted.
Acknowledging the challenging year for the world economy, the minister cited both a production slowdown and a decline in trade and demand.
It aligns with international organizations’ predictions, including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which revised its global growth forecast for 2023 from 3% in September to 2.9% last week.
Bolat attributed this adjustment to the robust growth in developing countries, particularly in China.
Bolat emphasized the G-20 countries’ goods exports that contracted 1.2% in the third quarter compared to the second three-month period of the year.
The world export volume index, which saw a 4% increase in the January-September period of 2022, witnessed a 1.1% decline in the same period of 2023, said the minister.
"Türkiye experienced a 1.4% increase in merchandise exports in the third quarter of 2023, reaching $64.2 billion compared to the previous second quarter.
"Türkiye stands alone among the G-20 nations in consistently increasing goods exports for the past two quarters. This positive decoupling in exports continues to contribute to economic growth," said Bolat.
Türkiye’s economy expanded by a more-than-expected 5.9% in the July-September period, driven by household spending, maintaining a growth streak for 12 consecutive quarters.
Bolat said this made Türkiye the fastest-growing economy among the 38 OECD members and second among G-20 countries, following India.
Despite global challenges and the devastating earthquakes that struck the country’s southeastern region in early February, exports’ contribution to this growth stood at 0.3 percentage points, said the minister.
In the January-November period, Türkiye’s exports hit nearly $233 billion, edging up by 0.7% from last year, while inbound shipments rose 0.5% to $332.8 billion, the Trade Ministry data showed.
Bolat said the impact of the February earthquakes stood at more than $6 billion.
The 12-month rolling exports reached $255.8 billion, Bolat said, marking a 0.9% increase.
"Our medium-term program (MTP) target was already $255 billion, but hopefully, when we meet again in a month, God willing, we will also see $256 billion," Bolat noted.
If achieved, it would mark the third consecutive yearly record in shipments.
Exports reached over $254 billion in 2022, lifting the previous all-time high of nearly $225.4 billion in 2021. Sales were hit by the coronavirus pandemic and dropped to as low as $169.5 billion in 2020.
Energy imports, which hold the biggest share in Türkiye’s purchases from abroad, dropped by about 30% in the first 11 months to some $62.5 billion, said Bolat.
The bill is expected to reach $69 billion at the end of the year, down from $97 billion in 2022, according to the minister.
He also referred to gold imports, which he said reached $28.5 billion in the January-November period. The figure could have hit as high as $40 billion, said Bolat, had not the country introduced additional charges for some gold imports in August to curb the negative impact on the current account balance.
Germany was the top export market in November at $1.75 billion. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) came in second at $1.46 billion and Iraq followed at $1.28 billion, the data showed.
Most imports came from China at nearly $3.56 billion. It was followed by Russia at $3.53 billion and Germany at $2.37 billion.
The automotive topped the list among sectors with $3.17 billion worth of exports in November. The chemicals industry followed with nearly $2.88 billion, while ready-to-wear and electronics reported $1.43 and $1.4 billion in sales, respectively.