Türkiye's foreign trade deficit narrowed 15.6% year-over-year in May, as imports fell more sharply than exports, official data showed on Tuesday.
Exports totaled $22.46 billion (TL 1.05 trillion), down 9.5% from the same month last year, while imports dropped 10.8% to $28.07 billion, according to provisional figures from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) and the Trade Ministry.
The foreign trade gap fell to $5.61 billion in May from a year earlier.
The export-import coverage ratio rose to 80% in May, compared with 78.9% in the same month of 2025.
Excluding energy products and non-monetary gold, exports fell 11.5% to $20.5 billion, while imports dropped 16.2% to $21.03 billion. The trade deficit excluding these items stood at $525 million, while the coverage ratio was 97.5%.
Tuesday's figures showed energy accounted for nearly one-quarter of Türkiye's total imports in May, rising 43.4% year-over-year to $6.11 billion.
Crude oil imports increased 1.7% year-over-year to 2.67 million tons, up from 2.62 million tons in the same month last year.
This January through May, overall exports edged up 0.2% year-over-year to $111.12 billion, while imports rose 1.1% to $153.83 billion.
The foreign trade deficit rose 3.6% in the first five months of the year to $42.72 billion. The export-import coverage ratio fell to 72.2%, from 72.9% in the same period last year.
Germany was Türkiye's top export destination in May, with shipments totaling $1.71 billion, followed by the U.S. with $1.52 billion, the U.K. with $1.38 billion, Italy with $1.14 billion and Spain with $922 million.
Russia was the leading source of imports, with $3.76 billion, followed by China with $3.43 billion, Germany with $2.04 billion, the U.S. with $1.21 billion and Italy with $1.06 billion.
Manufacturing products accounted for 94.5% of total exports in May, while intermediate goods made up 72.7% of total imports.
The share of high-technology products in manufacturing exports was 3.1% in May, while high-tech products accounted for 11.8% of manufacturing imports.
