According to Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) data, Turkey's exports decreased by 9.8 percent to $11.8 billion when compared to April 2014.
The figures announced by TİM indicated that in the first four months of the year, exports decreased by 8.1 percent to $49 million. In the last 12 months, when compared to last year, exports decreased by 1.6 percent to $153 billion; however, exports increased by 3 percent in terms of kilograms in April. The automotive industry had the highest export figures in April, reaching $1.8 billion, followed by chemical materials and products at $1.4 billion and ready wear clothing and the confection industry at $1.4 billion.
For the same period, 82.5 percent of Turkish exports were in the industry product group; however, there was an annual decrease of 10 percent to $9.7 billion in this group as well. Agricultural products, which account for 14.5 percent of total exports, decreased by 7.2 percent to $1.7 billion when compared to April 2014. The mining industry, which accounts for 3 percent of total exports, experienced a decrease of 14.9 percent to $351 million. Meanwhile, the sector with the highest export figures was industrial products as part of the industrial sector, accounting for 61.5 percent of total exports, and among industrial products, the automotive industry had the biggest share with 15.6 percent.
In this period, nuts and similar products experienced the highest increase at 64.6 percent, followed by tobacco products with an increase of 49.6 percent. On an annual basis, the biggest decline was in the fresh fruit and vegetable sector with 29.5 percent, followed by a 19.9 percent decrease in grain and oily seed product exports and a 19.4 percent decrease in ornamental plant exports.
Most Turkish exports went to Germany, the U.K., Iraq, Italy and the U.S. However, in the same period, exports to Germany decreased by 9.6 percent, by 8.1 percent to the U.K., by 23.4 percent to Iraq and by 12.4 percent to Italy.
