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.
