Turkey's exports reached $160 billion in the last 12 months with a 10.5 percent increase, the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) said Sunday. According to a statement from the organization, export figures in March reached an all-time monthly high and generated $15.1 billion with an 11.5 percent year-on-year increase.

It added that exports increased 10.4 percent to $40.727 billion in the first three months of this year, when compared with the same period of 2017. The goal of Turkish exporters is to exceed $170 billion in exports by the end of the year, TİM Chairman Mehmet Büyükekşi said.

In a televised interview on Friday, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci announced that Turkish exports reached an all-time record in March with an 11.5 percent increase from the previous year.

In terms of the sectors that contributed most to exports in March, automotive again topped Turkish exports, generating $3.1 billion and saw a 16.1 percent increase from March 2017. The automotive industry was followed by textile and chemicals with $1.7 and $1.6 billion, respectively.

The highest sectoral increase was seen in jewelry, where exports increased by 53.7 percent. Olive and olive oil exports rose by 48.9 percent while fresh fruit and vegetable exports increased by 34.7 percent.

Turkey's exports to 154 destinations increased in March. Germany topped the destinations and exports to the country expanded 13.6 percent. Following Germany, the U.K. came second and saw a 19.1 percent in its imports from Turkey. Exports to Italy and Spain also increased by 18.1 percent and 23.8 percent, respectively, while exports to the U.S. decreased by 1.5 percent.

Recalling the 7.4 percent growth of the Turkish economy in 2017, Büyükekşi noted that exports constituted 2.55 percent of the growth.