Turkey posted a surplus of around 2.8 billion euros ($3.13 billion) in its trade with the EU in the first quarter of this year, according to data released by Eurostat yesterday.

The EU's statistical body said Turkey's imports from the EU declined by 22 percent and fell to 17.4 billion euros in the first three months of this year, down from 22.3 billion euros in the same period of last year.

On the other hand, the country's exports to the union increased 6.9 percent to 20.2 billion euros, up from 18.9 billion euros from 2018.

According to Eurostat data, Turkey has posted a surplus in trade with the EU in all three months, registering a 1.79 billion euros trade surplus in January, 851.3 million euros in February and 138.3 million euros in March.

Thus, Turkey, which had a deficit of 3.5 billion euros in trade with the EU in the first quarter of 2018, posted a surplus of 2.8 billion euros in the same period of this year.

The country has been posting a surplus in its trade with the EU since August 2018. The country's trade surplus with the union stood at 740.7 million euros in August, 462.9 million euros in September, 1.75 billion euros in October, 1.5 billion euros in November and 794.2 million euros in December.

Turkey's trade deficit with the EU dropped significantly in 2018 compared to the previous year, according to Eurostat data.

Turkey's imports from the EU fell to 77 billion euros in 2018 from 84.8 billion euros in 2017. Its exports to the bloc last year increased to 76.1 billion euros, up from 69.8 billion euros in 2017.

As a result, Turkey's trade deficit with the EU, which stood at 15 billion euros in 2017, dropped to just 1.2 billion euros last year.

The EU's foreign trade balance recorded a 24 billion euros deficit in the first quarter of this year, Eurostat said. The same figure stood at 9.6 billion euros in the first three months of 2018.

It said the 28-member bloc's exports of goods rose to 483.6 billion euros, an increase of 3.1 percent year-on-year, and imports rose to 507.6 billion euros - an increase of 6.1 percent compared to the same period a year earlier.

The statistical body noted that intra-EU28 trade rose to 914.3 billion in January-March, up by 3.9 percent year-on-year.