Turkey's exports, imports fall in September: TurkStat

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's exports in September fell by 5.6 percent from a year earlier, while imports slightly shrank 0.7 percent, the Turkish Statistical Institute, also known as TurkStat, said Monday.

This decrease left the country with a trade deficit of $4.4 billion for the month, up by 14.1 percent compared with September 2015, TurkStat said.

The institute valued the country's exports in July at almost $11 billion, which is a 5.6 percent decrease year-on-year. Imports also declined to $15.4 billion, a 0.7 percent decrease.

Turkey’s exports declined by 2.7 percent to $104.2 billion in the first nine months of this year, from $107.2 billion in the same period last year, it said.

The country’s exports to the EU, Turkey’s main trading partner, increased slightly by 0.4 percent in September to $5.4 billion.

Germany was the largest receiver of Turkish goods in September, which was worth $1.13 billion; U.K. followed with $784 million imports from Turkey.

Turkey imported over $2.2 billion worth of goods from China in September. Germany was the second-largest exporter to the country, with over $1.66 billion for the month and Russia came in third with over $1 billion.