Turkey's 10 provinces were responsible for more than 85.6 percent of all Turkish exports in the first nine months of the year, as Istanbul led the way with exports worth $45.6 billion, Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TİM) has confirmed.

According to TİM, Turkey's exports hit $106.7 billion in the January-September period. The figure, however, goes up to $114.7 billion when exports outside the exporters' associations are also included.

Among the total, exports worth $45.6 billion were undertaken by companies registered in Istanbul, making it responsible for 42.7 percent of all exports.

It was followed by Bursa with exports valued at $10.3 billion, Kocaeli's $9.2 billion, İzmir's $6.3 billion and Gaziantep's $4.8 billion. Meanwhile, the volume of exports from Ankara-based companies stood at $4.7 billion compared to $3.8 billion in Sakarya, $2.7 billion in Manisa, $2.2 billion in Denizli and $1.7 billion in Hatay.

Exports from the aforementioned 10 provinces totaled $91.3 billion, corresponding to 85.6 percent of Turkey's exports. The least amount of contribution to Turkey's exports in the nine months of the year came from Bayburt with only $89,900, followed by Kars with $345,600 and Tunceli with $421,900. All three were also registered as the provinces that exported less than $1 million during the same period. Despite attempts to drive as well as diversify regional exports, the contribution of 67 out of Turkey's 81 provinces remain below 1 percent.

In terms of regions, Marmara, with $70.3 billion, was the biggest contributor to Turkey's exports during the January-to-September period. It was the sole region responsible for almost 65.9 percent of all exports. The Aegean region ranked second with an export volume of $12.6 billion, followed by the Central Anatolia Region with $8.4 billion, the southeastern Anatolia region with $6.3 billion, the Mediterranean region with $6 billion and the Black Sea region with $2.5 billion. The eastern Anatolia region made the least contribution with $725,400, corresponding to just 0.7 percent of total exports.