Turkish exporters have managed to exceed the $20 billion threshold for the first time on a monthly basis in September, the country’s trade minister announced Friday.
Exports surged 30% to hit $20.8 billion last month, Mehmet Muş told a meeting in the capital Ankara to announce preliminary figures.
“For the first time in our republic’s history, we have exceeded the threshold level of $20 billion on a monthly basis,” Muş said.
Imports grew 12% to $23.4 billion, Muş noted.
The country has also achieved its 12-month rolling exports target for this year in the first nine months of the year, reaching $212.2 billion, the minister noted.
As laid out in Turkey’s new economic program announced by the government, the export target for this year is $211 billion, he added.
“I believe this success story will continue to increase and maintain growth permanently,” Muş said.
September’s exports-to-imports coverage ratio stood at 88.9% compared to 76.7% a year ago, the data showed.
For his part, Ismail Gülle, the head of the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TIM), said: “The family of exports, waving the Turkish flag in 218 countries and regions, succeeded increasing exports to 170 countries.”
Germany was the top destination for Turkish exports last month with $1.7 billion, a 12% year-on-year rise. It was followed by the U.S. with $1.3 billion and the U.K. with $1.3 billion, Gülle stressed.
“The countries where we see the largest rise in exports on the basis of amount were the U.S. by $450 million, Belgium by $278 million and Spain by $257 million,” he said.
In the first nine months of this year, exports amounted to $161 billion, a surge of 36% from last year, Muş noted.
The imports climbed 24% to $193.4 billion, slashing the country’s foreign trade deficit by 15% to $32.4 billion.
The exports-to-imports coverage ratio also went up by 7.5 percentage points to 83.3% in January-September, he highlighted.
