Turkish exports up in January

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA

Turkey's exports in January totaled around $12.5 billion, a 10.7 percent rise compared with the same month in 2017, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced Wednesday.

Turkish imports climbed 38 percent to over $21.5 billion, amounting to a foreign trade deficit of nearly $9.7 billion over the same period, according to provisional data by TurkStat and the Customs and Trade Ministry.

Official data showed the percentage of imports covered by exports in January was 57.9.

The country's foreign trade volume reached almost $34 billion in January this year, an annual rise of 26 percent, according to the data.

Exports to the EU28 countries, the country's main trading partner, climbed 23.1 percent to $5.2 billion.

"The proportion of EU countries was 52.3 percent in January 2018, while it was 47 percent in January 2017," TurkStat said.

Germany was the top export market with $1.34 billion, a 10.8 percent share of total exports, followed by the U.K with $747 million, Italy with $742 million, and Iraq with $639 million.

In the same period, Turkey imported the most from China ($2.18 billion), Russia ($2.05 billion), Germany ($1.63 billion), and the U.S. ($1.12 billion).