Total exports of the machinery sector in Turkey reached $9.8 billion in the first seven months of 2018, the Machinery Exporters' Association (MAIB) said Wednesday.

The exports jumped by 21.2 percent compared to the same period last year, MAIB said in a press release.

"Expanding protectionist policies in the U.S. are directly affecting all sectors willing to do business in this country, but the country where industrial production has increased by 6 percent annually also provides new opportunities in the commercial sense for strategic sectors such as the machinery," MAIB Chairman Kutlu Karavelioğlu said.

Karavelioğlu said Turkey's machinery exports to the U.S. were worth $700 million in the January-July period, which marked an annual 28.7 percent rise in the seven-month period, he noted.

He also added that the sector has succeeded in increasing market share in all developed countries with the highest exports to Germany, the U.S. and the U.K.

"The upswing in [overall] export-to-import ratio, which stood at 70 percent in July, was a very positive development for the Turkish economy," Karavelioğlu said.

Using all sub-sectors, MAIB targeted to reach an $18-billion machinery export target by the end of the year, Karavelioğlu said.

Turkey earned $96.3 billion from exports during the first seven months of 2018, according to the Turkish Exporters' Association.