Turkey's exports, imports rose in November: TurkStat

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's exports in November surged by 9.7 percent from a year earlier, while imports advanced six percent, the Turkish Statistical Institute, TurkStat, said on Friday.

The increase in exports left the country with a trade deficit of $4.1 billion for the month, down by 4.1 percent compared with November 2015, TurkStat said.

It valued the country's exports in November at over $12.8 billion, which is a 9.7 percent increase year-on-year. Imports also rose to around $16.93 billion, a six percent decrease.

Turkey’s exports declined by 1.7 percent to $129.79 billion in the eleven months of this year, from $132.09 billion in the same period last year, it said.

The country’s exports to the EU, Turkey’s main trading partner, increased by 6.6 percent in November to almost $6 billion.

Germany, the EU's largest economy, was the largest receiver of Turkish goods in September, which was worth $1.24 billion; the U.K. followed with $874-million-worth of imports from Turkey.

Turkey imported over $2.1-billion-worth of goods from China in September. Germany was the second-largest exporter to the country, with over $1.82 billion for the month and Russia came in third with over $1.3 billion due to gas imports.