Türkiye’s exports remained buoyant in November, while imports jumped at an even faster pace, propelled mainly by costly energy inbound shipments that continue to widen the country’s trade deficit.

One of the main drivers of Türkiye’s economic growth this year, exports hit record-high volumes throughout the first 11 months of this year. Yet, a global slowdown has put a drag on foreign demand, notably among Türkiye’s largest trade partners, spearheaded by Europe.

Outbound shipments rose 1.9% year-over-year to $21.9 billion (TL 408.17 billion) in November, Trade Minister Mehmet Muş said Friday, while imports jumped 14% from a year earlier to $30.7 billion, driven mainly by steep rises in energy and commodity prices.

Türkiye is almost completely dependent on imports to cover its energy needs, which leaves it vulnerable to rising costs that skyrocketed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

"Our energy imports increased by 17.4% to $7.7 billion and accounted for a quarter of our total imports," Muş told an event in the southern province of Adana.

Muş also stressed the impact of soaring gold imports that rocketed by 2,500% from a year ago to $2.6 billion last month.

These pushed the trade deficit in November to leap over 61% year-over-year to $8.8 billion, the official data showed. Foreign trade volume rose 8.6% from a year ago to $52.51 billion.

"The latest data announced by the World Bank show that there was a 70.2% increase in energy prices in the first 10 months of 2022 compared to the previous year. The increase in commodity prices increases the imports of our country, which imports a high amount of energy, especially for the manufacturing sector, as in all countries that are net commodity importers," Muş said.

Exports from January through November jumped 14% from a year ago to $231 billion, while imports were up 36.6% to nearly $331.1 billion, the data showed. Foreign trade volume was up 26.3% to $562.35 billion.

Foreign trade deficit leaped 153.6% to nearly $100 billion, as surging gold and energy imports continued to widen the shortfall.

Muş said gold imports jumped by 242% year-over-year to $17.8 billion in the January-November period. He also said the trade shortfall would have been $3 billion lower in the first 11 months had there not been the negative effect of the foreign exchange parity.

Automotive imports also gained pace after bottlenecks and disruptions related to supply chains and semiconductors. Muş said motor land vehicle imports rose 40% in November to $1.9 billion.

"Therefore, there is a share of the significant increase in energy, gold and automotive items in our foreign trade deficit this month."

Exports had ended 2021 at a record $225.4 billion, a figure that government and economists expected to reach $250 billion this year.

The 12-month rolling exports reached $253.5 billion as of November, Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) Chair Mustafa Gültepe said, suggesting the country is now all but sure it would be announcing the highest yearly exports ever at the end of this month.

Gültepe said they aim to exceed a volume of $300 billion in as soon as two years and make Türkiye one of the world’s top ten exporters in the longer term.

Shipments to Germany rose 5.3% to $1.85 billion which meant Europe’s largest economy remained Türkiye’s biggest export market. It was followed by the U.S. and Iraq, where sales jumped 4.6% and 7.1% to $1.43 billion and $1.3 billion, respectively.

European Union, where the majority of exports go, received some $8.45 billion worth of Turkish goods, while $4.18 billion of products was shipped to countries in the Near East and the Middle East. Some $3.1 billion went to countries outside European Union.

On the other hand, most of the inbound shipments came from Russia – a major source of oil and gas for Türkiye – at $4.65 billion, a 57% increase versus November 2021, the data showed.

It was followed by imports from China that rose 2.4% to $3.1 billion and shipments from Switzerland that rocketed by 1,137% to $2.25 billion, according to the data.

Automotive industry exports topped the list among industries in November with $2.9 billion worth of sales. The chemicals industry followed with $2.6 billion, while ready-to-wear and steel industries reported $1.6 billion and $1.4 billion in exports.