Turkey's automotive industry exports will exceed $30 billion in 2018, the CEO of the Uludağ Automotive Industry Exporters' Association (OİB) said.

"We had aimed for $29 billion [of exports] in 2018. If we look at the data for the first half of the year, we reached an export level of $16.4 billion.

"This shows us that we will exceed far beyond our aim. We will exceed over $30 billion," Baran Çelik told Anadolu Agency (AA).

Çelik said $16.4 billion of exports in 2018 were an "all-time record" for the first half of a year.

He said Turkish automotive sector's exports reached $28.5 billion in 2017, adding that the sector will break a record in 2018.

According to the Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TİM), automotive was the leading sector with $2.5 billion exports in June. The sector's exports increased by 1.9 percent compared to the same month the previous year.