Turkey was the fifth-largest trading partner of the EU in the first 10 months of this year with trade volume of 127.4 billion euros ($142.2 billion), the union's statistical authority said Tuesday.
EU exports to Turkey totaled 60.3 billion euros ($67.3 billion), while imports from the country were 67.1 billion euros ($74.9 billion) during the same period, leaving Turkey with a trade surplus of 6.8 billion euros ($7.6 billion), Eurostat data showed.
The EU's foreign trade balance posted a 28 billion euros ($31 billion) deficit in the first 10 months of this year, the statistical body said. The 28-member bloc's exports of goods totaled 1.69 trillion euros ($1.89 trillion) in January-October with a year-on-year rise of 3.8%, Eurostat data showed.
Its imports from the rest of the world amounted to 1.72 trillion euros ($1.92 trillion), rising 4.4% during the same period. Intra-EU28 trade went up 1.6% on an annual basis to nearly 3 trillion euros ($3.35 trillion) between January and October.
The U.S. was the top market for EU exporters with 376.9 billion euros ($420.7 billion) or a share of 22% of the bloc's total exports.
The EU's other major export markets were China, Switzerland, Russia and Turkey.
On the imports side, China was the main source, with 351 billion euros ($392 billion), accounting for 20.3% of total imports. It was followed by the U.S., Russia, Switzerland and Turkey.
In January-October, the bloc's trade balance saw the highest deficit with China – 166 billion euros ($185.3 billion) – and the biggest surplus with the U.S., with 130.6 billion euros ($145.8 billion).
