Türkiye's foreign trade gap narrows significantly in August

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Türkiye's foreign trade deficit narrowed by 42.7% in August, reaching $4.99 billion, according to figures released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) on Friday.

In August, the country’s exports totaled $22.05 billion, marking a 2.3% increase compared to the same month last year. Meanwhile, imports amounted to $27.04 billion, representing a decline of 10.7%, the TurkStat data revealed.

When excluding energy products and non-monetary gold, exports were valued at $20.15 billion, showing a 2.5% increase for the month. Non-energy and non-gold imports fell to $20.45 billion, a decrease of 5.6%.

The foreign trade deficit, excluding energy products and non-monetary gold, stood at $302 million in August.

Analyzing the economic sectors contributing to total exports, products from manufacturing industries comprised 94.6%, while agriculture, forestry, and fishing accounted for 3.1%, and mining and quarrying contributed 1.7%.

Germany was the largest destination for Turkish exports, receiving $1.67 billion worth of goods, while China emerged as the top source for Türkiye's imports at $4.02 billion.

The share of high-tech products in manufacturing exports was recorded at 3%, a decline of 17.7% year-on-year. In contrast, the share of medium-high-tech products increased by 4.7%, reaching 36.7%.

For the first eight months of the year, Türkiye's foreign trade deficit amounted to $54.94 billion, down 33.5% compared to the same period last year.

During this period, exports rose by 2.3% to $170.8 billion, while imports fell by 8.6%, totaling $225.7 billion.