According to the information compiled from the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), exports in the 10 months of this year increased by 11 percent compared to the same period of 2016, reaching $128.7 billion. A total of $8.5 billion of Turkey's $12.7 billion export increase in the first 10 months of the year came from the countries in the top 20, led by the U.S. in terms of value and Russia in percentage.
Exports to the top 20 countries reached $81.6 billion in the 10 months of this year. Covering 63.4 percent of total exports, the said figure pointed to an 11.6 percent increase compared to the same period of 2016. On a quantitative basis, $8.5 billion of the $12.7 billion export increase achieved in the January-October period of 2017 came from the top 20, which covered a large part of the increase in Turkey's exports.
Even though top 20 countries in Turkey's exports remain unchanged this year, the changes in the order attracted notice.
While the biggest change was experienced in Egypt, exports to this country declined by 18.7 percent in the 10 months of the year compared to the same period of 2016 to $1.8 billion. Thus, Egypt, which was ranked 12th last year, dropped to 19th place this year.
After Egypt, Saudi Arabia was the other country that went seven steps down the list. Exports to Saudi Arabia fell 14.3 percent last year to $2.2 billion, and the country ranked 17th in the list.
In the said period, Iran went down four steps and ranked 12th with a decrease of 16 percent in exports. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), whose imports from Turkey increased by 22.4 percent in the 10 months of the year, jumped five steps to the ninth place.
In the 10 months of the year, the country with the highest export volume was once again Germany with $12.2 billion. Exports to Germany increased by 7.3 percent compared to the same period last year, followed by the U.K. with $7.7 billion, Iraq with $6.8 billion, Italy with $6.73 billion and the U.S. with $6.72 billion.
The U.S. was the country with the largest increase in exports in terms of export values, amounting to $1.4 billion, followed by Spain with $1.04 billion and Iraq with $1.03 billion.
In terms of percentage, on the other hand, the biggest increase was realized by Russia with 53.6 percent. Following Russia, the other countries with the highest increase in exports in terms of percentage were China with 34.4 percent, the U.S. with 26.7 percent and Spain with 25.3 percent.
