Turkey's automotive industry exceeded $30 billion in exports for the first time in the last 12 months, registering a new record. According to Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TİM), the automotive sector led the way in exports once again in April with $2.9 billion. Having increased its exports by 26.6 percent in April compared to the same month of last year, the automotive industry claimed a 21.4 percent share in total exports. Automotive industry exports surged by 19.8 percent to $11.1 billion in the first four months of 2018 compared to the same period of the previous year.

Amounting to around $30.4 billion in exports for the last 12 months, the sector achieved the highest figure of all time in 12-month exports. The automotive industry's 12-month exports stood at $29.8 billion in March, $29.3 billion in February, and $28.8 billion in January.

As of the first four months of this year, the automotive industry realized the largest exports to Germany with $1.7 billion, with an increase of 17.05 percent compared to the January to April period of 2017.In the amount of exports by the automotive industry in the same period Germany was followed by Italy with $1.3 billion, France with $1.2 billion, the United Kingdom with $959.7 million, Spain with $642.3 million, Belgium with $497 million, Poland with $393.2 million, Slovenia with $371.8 million, the U.S. with $347 million, and the Netherlands with $346.4 million.Among the top 10 countries, the only country in which the automotive industry experienced a decline in exports was the U.K. at 3.2 percent.

In terms of the country group, the European Union maintained its position as the largest export market for the automotive industry in the January to April period.EU countries had a 78.3 percent share of the total exports in the sector in the first four months of last year. This year, automotive exports amounted to $8.7 billion, an increase of 18.8 percent compared to the same period last year.

A total of $9.8 billion, which corresponds to 88.3 percent of the $11.1 billion worth of automotive exports in the first four months of the year, came from four provinces in the Marmara Region.

Bursa ranked first in automotive exports with $3 billion, followed by Istanbul with $2.5 billion, Kocaeli with $2.4 billion and Sakarya with $1.9 billion.

The sector increased its exports by 41 percent in Istanbul, 31 percent in Kocaeli, 15 percent in Sakarya and 1 percent in Bursa compared to the same period last year in the first four months of 2018.

Meanwhile, Ankara reached $412.6 million in automotive exports, followed by Izmir with $226.8 million and Manisa with $171.5 million.