Turkey exported nearly $217 million worth of jewelry in June, according to Jewelry Exporters' Association (JTR).
In a statement on Wednesday, the association said exports increased by 9.52 percent last month compared to the same period of 2018. On overall, it said foreign sales in the first six months totaled nearly $1.7 billion.
The European Union country group spearheaded the exports last month with $97.6 million, followed by other European countries with $41.7 million, Near and Middle East Asian countries group with $31.8 million, other Asian countries with $18.8 million and North Africa with $12.3 million.
The United Kingdom took the lead on a country-by-country basis with $67.5 million, while the jewelry exports to this country skyrocketing by 2,812 percent in June compared to the same period of the previous year.
Switzerland came second with $31.9 million, followed by Hong Kong with $14.2 million, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with $12.3 million, the United States with $9.6 million, Germany with $8.6 million and Israel with $8.5 million.
The leading product group of $216.7 million in exports in June was unwrought or semi-finished gold with a 49 percent share and $105.7 million.
Gold jewelry ranked second with a 42 percent share and $90.2 million, followed by diamond-gold jewelry with a 3 percent share and $5.7 million, silver jewelry with a 2 percent share and $4.7 million, and waste and scrap precious metals or clad with precious metals with a share of 2 percent and $4.4 million.
In the meantime, Turkey's jewelry exports last year surged by 35 percent to $4.41 billion, with 28 percent, or $1.23 billion, being made to European Union countries, followed by other European countries with a share of 25 percent (almost $1.1 billion) and Near and Middle East Asian countries with 23 percent share (slightly over $1 billion).
