Turkey's export of construction materials between October 2017 and October 2018 exceeded the $20 billion threshold, a report revealed yesterday.

In its highest monthly figure for 2018, construction material exports registered a significant jump in October and were up 27.3 percent year-on-year, reaching $1.99 billion, according to the December 2018 Sector Report by the Association of Turkish Construction Material Producers (Turkey İMSAD).

In the first 11 months of 2018, sales abroad increased by 21.2 percent to $17 billion while annual exports exceeded $20 billion, reaching a total of $20.32 billion.

Ferdi Erdoğan, the chairman of Turkey İMSAD, had previously said that construction materials exports reached $17.3 billion in 2017.

Erdoğan emphasized that they were expecting to close 2018 with over $20 billion in exports. He added that the sector's 2019 target was $22 billion in exports.

While pointing to significant momentum in exports of construction materials, the Turkey İMSAD report highlighted shrinkage in the domestic market.

Positive developments in neighboring markets and the EU market, as well as an increase in exchange rates, positively contributed to sales.

Growth in the construction sector reversed in the third quarter of 2018, as the sector shrank by 5.3 percent. Growth in the first and second quarters of the year was revised to 6.7 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively. Thus, in the first nine months of the year, the construction sector grew by 0.8 percent. The contraction is estimated to have continued in the last quarter of the year. In the first nine months of 2017, the construction sector grew by 9.7 percent.

Turkey's economy grew 1.6 percent in the third quarter of 2018. Growth in the real estate sector was 2.3 percent in the same period. Despite growth in the economy and the real estate sector, the construction sector contracted by 5.3 percent in the third quarter. It is estimated that the divergence continued in the fourth quarter.After a decline in August and September, the average industrial production of construction materials decreased by 13.5 percent in October 2018 compared to October 2017. This decline in production was driven by the contraction in domestic demand.

The decline in domestic demand and the decrease in orders received in October caused concerns that production will remain weak in the coming months. Despite the contraction in domestic demand, exports continue to support production growth.

In October 2018, production in 5 out 23 sub-sectors increased, while there was a decline in the remaining 18 subsectors compared to the same period of the previous year.