Türkiye's foreign trade gap shrinks 32.6% in November
Aerial view of port in northern province of Samsun, Türkiye, Dec. 29, 2023. (IHA Photo)


Türkiye's foreign trade deficit narrowed 32.6% year-over-year to $5.9 billion in November, according to the official data released Friday.

Turkish exports surged 5.2% to $22.99 billion in November on an annual basis, while imports plunged 5.7% to $28.9 billion, the data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) showed.

The exports-to-imports coverage ratio rose to 79.5% in November compared to 71.3% in the same month last year.

Excluding energy products and non-monetary gold, Türkiye last month run trade deficit totaling $877 million, the data showed.

Türkiye's outbound shipments to its main trading partner Germany totaled $1.75 billion in November, followed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with $1.36 billion, Iraq with $1.28 billion, the U.S. with $1.26 billion and Italy with $1.1 billion.

During this period, the exports to the top five countries constituted 29.4% of total exports.

China was the main source of Türkiye's imports in November with $3.55 billion, followed by Russia ($3.46 billion), Germany ($2.37 billion), UAE ($1.46 billion) and the U.S. ($1.36 billion).

In January-November, Türkiye's outbound shipments totaled $232.8 billion, up 0.7%, while imports amounted to $332.7 billion, climbing 0.5%.

The country's foreign trade gap rose 0.1% year-over-year in the January-November period to $99.9 billion.

In the same period, exports-imports coverage was at 70.0%, up from 69.8% in January-November 2022.