Both imports and exports increased, raising Turkey's trade volume in year-on-year terms in June, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) in collaboration with the Customs and Trade Ministry on Friday. Accordingly, imports increased by 7 percent year-on-year, up from $6.24 billion a year earlier, while exports rose just over 8 percent to $12.9 billion.
Also, exports coverage imports were 66.3 percent in June, while it was 65.7 percent in the same month last year. On the other hand, Turkey's trade deficit widened by 5 percent in June to $6.55 billion, pushed up by the rise in imports for the same period.
Furthermore, in the first half of the year, exports shrank by 2.4 percent compared to the same period the previous year, while imports dropped by 6.7 percent, stemming from a 16 percent reduction in the foreign trade gap to $28 billion.
Regarding the trade numbers, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci on Friday reiterated: "Though our foreign trade deficit in June rose 5 percent, in the first six months of the year overall the deficit fell 16 percent year-on-year," adding: "The EU's share of our exports neared 50 percent of all exports amid the ongoing uncertainty in economies in Europe."
"With the reforms that will be implemented and new incentives for exports and investments, our economy will keep shining in global markets," Zeybekci said.
Further, concerning the outlook of Turkey's trade, "The trade deficit will likely narrow further," said Deniz Çiçek, an economist at Finansbank AS, adding: "Looking ahead, we expect some more rebalancing in the cumulative trade balance on account of the ongoing year-on-year decline in oil imports and the end of Russia's sanctions on Turkish exports." Çiçek expects that the country's annual trade deficit at the end of 2016 will stand at $55 billion.
"Signals coming from sub-groups of imports draw a positive picture for investments and the manufacturing sector, but negative for domestic demand," said finance analyst Haluk Bürümcekçi.
"We maintain the current account deficit forecast of $34 billion for the end of year. Risks in our forecast seem balanced," he added.
Among trade partners to which Turkey exported goods, Germany ranked first with $1.22 billion in goods and services sold, followed by the U.K. at $1.1 billion, Italy at $717 million and the U.S. at $629 million. Exports to the EU-28 increased 13.8 percent from $5.5 billion to $6.3 billion. The proportion of EU countries among the countries purchasing Turkish goods and services was 48.5 percent, while it was 46.1 percent the previous year.
On the other side, Turkey imported goods and services worth $2.6 billion from China, $2.3 billion from Germany and $1.7 billion from the U.S. in the same period.
