By Tuba Sahin and Dilara Zengin
ANKARA (AA) - Turkish exports advanced four percent year-on-year to reach almost $11.9 billion in April on the back of performances by the steel, automotive, mining and jewelry sectors, the country’s main exporters’ association said on Monday.
The Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TIM) said total exports in the first four months of the year also surged by 6.7 percent from the same period last year.
The association revealed Turkey's value of total exports in the last 12 months rose by four percent to stand at almost $145.7 billion compared to the previous 12 months.
In April the highest increase among all sectors was seen in steel exports with a $326 million rise, according to the statement.
Other prominent export sectors that climbed in the month were the automotive sector with a $253-million hike, followed by the mining and jewelry sectors’ increases of $112 million and $100 million respectively, according to TIM figures.
However, agricultural-sector exports decreased by 1.3 percent in the month. The drop in the ready-made-textile sector's exports -- 1.1 percent -- had a limiting effect on the country's increase.
In the first four months of the year the automotive sector contributed the highest exports -- a nearly-$1.7-billion increase -- compared to the same period last year.
Exports to the European Union, Turkey’s main trading partner, rose by 3.2 percent in the month; they had increased by $2.1 billion in the first four months of the year compared to same period last year.
Turkey's exports to its second-biggest trading partner, North America, jumped by 28.7 percent in the month compared to April 2016.
The most remarkable increases were seen in Turkey's exports to Malta (351 percent), the United Arab Emirates (99 percent) and Canada (50 percent), the TIM said.
In April, Turkey's exports to Russia also rose by 5.4 percent year-on-year; these constituted 30 percent of the increase seen between January and April of this year.
"Although Turkey was focused on its referendum agenda, it achieved an increase in its exports in April. We will focus on the economy now," TIM President Mehmet Buyukeksi said.
Buyukeksi said his organization was expecting an economic recovery with what he described as the disappearance of uncertainty and the realization of postponed investment and consumption decisions.
"We believe that [Turkey's] exports will have a stronger increasing trend in the upcoming periods," he added.
Buyukeksi spoke about “sad and unexpected” comments, reactions and decisions from the EU but said he did not expect “a negative impact led by political problems on our [European] exports”.