Turkey's foreign trade deficit in October increased by 73.9 percent compared to same month last year, rising from $4.2 billion to $7.3 billion as energy imports surge ahead of winter, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced Thursday.

According to the unofficial data compiled by TurkStat and Ministry of Customs and Trade, exports increased by 9 percent in the same period and reached $13.9 billion, whereas imports were $21.2 percent with a 25 percent increase.

The export-import coverage rate fell to 65.6 percent from 75.2 percent in the previous year.

Seasonally and calendar adjusted exports increased by 1.7 percent, while imports decreased by 6.1 percent compared to the previous month. Calendar adjusted exports and imports increased by 7.9 percent and 19.2 percent, respectively.

Exports to the EU-28 increased by 11.4 percent and reached $6.9 billion. The share of the EU countries in total exports increased from 48.4 percent to 49.5 percent.

The main partner country for Turkish exports was Germany with $1.45 billion, which was followed by the U.K. with $890 million, the U.S. with $771 million and Italy with $746 million.

The top country for imports was China with $2.1 billion, followed by Germany with $2.03 billion, Russia with $1.8 billion and Italy with $1.08 billion.

The share of manufacturing industries products in total exports was 93.1 percent, with high-technology and medium-high-technology products constituting 3.9 percent and 36 percent of manufacturing industries exports, respectively.

Automotive and spare parts was the leading sector in exports with $2.17 billion.

The share of manufacturing industries products in total imports was 82.3 percent, with 16.6 percent and 42.3 percent shares of high-technology and medium-high-technology products.

Energy imports, namely fossil fuels, were the biggest import item category with $3.24 billion with a rise of 38.4 percent. Imports of this category were $2.34 billion in October 2016.

The rise in imports also came at a time when Turkish lira hit record lows against the U.S. dollar and euro.