Türkiye's exports see record high November figure

By Tuba Ongun

Türkiye's exports saw a record high November figure at $23 billion, the country's trade minister announced on Saturday.

Overseas shipments increased 5.2% from a year earlier, Omer Bolat told a news conference in Istanbul on Türkiye's preliminary foreign trade data.

"Despite all the challenges and problems", exports grew on a monthly basis for the fifth consecutive month in November, Bolat said.

Turkish imports fell 5.6% from the prior year to $28.9 billion in November, he added.

Thus, the country's foreign trade deficit continued to narrow in November, down 32.6% year-on-year to $5.9 billion, Bolat said, adding that the export-import coverage ratio rose 8.2 points to 79.5% in the same period.

In the January-November period, Türkiye's exports hit $232.9 billion, edging up by 0.7% from last year while its inbound shipments ticked down 0.5% to $332.8 billion, he said.

"We estimated that the negative impact of the Feb. 6 earthquakes on our exports in the February-November period is over $6 billion," Bolat said.

Thanks to a hike in exports and decline in imports, Türkiye's trade gap shrank for the fourth month in a row, the trade minister said.

The figure plunged 32.6% at an annualized pace to $5.9 billion in the month, he added.