Turkey's exports rose by 5.6% to reach $17.33 billion (TL 134 billion) in October, on a yearly basis, the country's statistical authority announced Monday.

The country's imports also posted an increase of 8.4% to reach $19.7 billion in the same month compared with the same month last year.

Meanwhile, the foreign trade deficit was at $2.37 billion, up 34.4% annually, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data showed.

The export-import coverage ratio was 88% in October 2020, down from 90.3% in the same month in 2019.

The country’s exports were $135.6 billion, down 9.1% year-on-year in the first 10 months, while imports totaled $175.9 billion, increasing 2.2%.

The trade balance posted a $40.72 billion deficit in the January-October period, up 76.2% on a yearly basis.

The export-import coverage ratio was 77.1% over the 10 months, down from 86.7% in the same period last year.

Foreign trade excluding energy, gold

In October, exports excluding energy products and gold increased by 6.3% and imports increased by 16.2%.

Exports, excluding energy products and nonmonetary gold, increased from $15.4 billion to $16.4 billion.

Imports excluding energy products and nonmonetary gold rose from $13.4 billion to $15.5 billion, during the same month.

The foreign trade surplus, excluding energy products and nonmonetary gold, was $829 million in October. Foreign trade volume increased by 10.9% and reached $32.2 billion. In the month in question, the export-import coverage ratio excluding energy and gold to imports was recorded as 105.3%.

When economic activities are examined, the share of the manufacturing industry in exports in October was 94.8%, the share of agriculture, forestry and fisheries was 3.3%, and the share of the mining and quarrying sector was 1.5%.

According to the classification of broad economic groups, the share of intermediate goods in imports in October was 69.6%, the share of capital goods was 18.2% and the share of consumer goods was 12.1%.

Germany No.1 in exports & imports

Germany took the lion’s share in both exports and imports of Turkey in October. A total of $1.6 billion worth of exports were made to the country.

The U.K., Iraq, the U.S., and Italy followed Germany with $1.4 billion, $966 million, $964 million and $904 million, respectively.

The exports to those top five countries constituted some 34.3% of Turkey’s total exports in October.

Germany also took the lead in Turkey’s exports in the January-October period with some $12.8 billion worth of foreign sales made to this country. The U.K., the U.S., Iraq and Italy again followed Germany with $9.04 billion, $8.1 billion, $7.2 billion and $6.4 billion, respectively.

Germany also ranked first in Turkey’s imports last month with some $2.2 billion worth of imports were made from the country. China, Russia, the U.S and France followed Germany in Turkey’s imports. The share of those top five countries constituted some 38.7% of total imports of the country.

China, meanwhile, took the top spot in Turkey’s imports in the January-October period with $18.3 billion.

Energy import bill down

Turkey's energy import bill decreased by 37.2% to $2.09 billion in October this year compared with the same month last year, according to data released by the TurkStat on Monday.

The overall energy import bill fell last month with an increase in the country's domestic and renewable energy production.

The data shows that Turkey's overall import bill, including energy and other items, totaled $19.7 billion in October, with energy accounting for 11.8% of the overall import figures.

The country's crude oil imports also showed a nearly 22.5% decrease compared with October 2019.

Turkey imported approximately 2.3 million tons of crude oil last month, down from 3 million tons in October 2019.