Turkey’s foreign trade deficit widened 51.3% year-on-year in July, the highest level in four months, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) showed on Tuesday.
The gap reached nearly $4.3 billion, according to the general trade system, up from around $2.83 billion a year ago.
After trade a year earlier was hit by the pandemic, Turkey’s exports climbed 10.2% to $16.4 billion and imports rose 16.8% to $20.7 billion compared with July 2020, the institute said.
The exports-to-imports coverage ratio slipped to 79.3% in July, versus 84% in the same month of last year.
Turkey’s exports to its top trading partner Germany were worth nearly $1.5 billion last month, followed by the U.S. at $1.1 billion, Britain $983 million, and Italy $803 million.
In July, China was the number one source for Turkey’s imports, amounting to $2.7 billion. Russia and Germany followed with $2.5 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively.
Manufacturing industry products dominated total exports with a share of 94.7%, followed by agriculture and forestry (2.6%), and mining and quarrying (2.1%).
The ratio of high technology products in manufacturing industry exports stood at 2.9% in July, while the shares of medium-high and medium-low technology products were 33% and 30.4%, respectively.
In the first seven months of the year, the trade deficit narrowed 4.7% to $26.72 billion.
Exports rose 35% to $121.3 billion, while imports totaled $146.8 billion, rising 25.8% during the seven-month period.
Among others, the country’s energy import bill surged 64% to $3.95 billion this July, the official data showed.
The overall energy import bill soared last month due to an increase in the country’s industrial production.
Energy accounted for 19% of the overall import figures in July, according to the institute.
Crude oil imports showed a 2.95% decrease compared to a year ago. Turkey imported a little over 3 million tons of crude oil last month, down from 3.09 million tons in July 2020.
Please click to read our informative text prepared pursuant to the Law on the Protection of Personal Data No. 6698 and to get information about the cookies used on our website in accordance with the relevant legislation.
6698 sayılı Kişisel Verilerin Korunması Kanunu uyarınca hazırlanmış aydınlatma metnimizi okumak ve sitemizde ilgili mevzuata uygun olarak kullanılan çerezlerle ilgili bilgi almak için lütfen tıklayınız.
