Trade Minister Mehmet Mus, “In April, our exports increased by 24.6% compared to the same month of the previous year and reached $23.4 billion. This figure is the highest monthly export figure of all time.”
Trade Minister Mehmet Mus announced the foreign trade figures for April at the press conference he held with the President of Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) Ismail Gulle at the Conference Hall of the Ministry of Commerce.
Emphasizing that despite the recent negative developments in the global economy, Turkey continued its strong performance in the first four months of 2022 after its great success in exports in 2021, Mus said:
“In April we left behind, our exports increased by 24.6% compared to the same month of the previous year and reached $23.4 billion. This figure is the highest monthly export figure of all time. We announced the highest monthly figures in the first three months of 2022. Thus, our increase series continued. On the other hand, our export of $1 billion 956 million, which we realized on April 29, is very valuable as it is the highest export made in just one day in the history of the Republic.”
Muş reported that the foreign trade volume increased by 30.1% compared to the previous year and reached $52.8 billion in April.
Noting that imports increased by 35% last month compared to the same month of 2021, to $29.5 billion, Mus shared the following information:
“The energy item continues to occupy an important place in our imports with a share of $7.7 billion. As a matter of fact, the ratio of our exports to imports exceeded 100%, excluding energy. At this point, we see that the increase in imports in the January-April period, especially oil and natural gas, continues to be effective in the global increase in commodity prices. $20.7 billion of the $33.2 billion increase in imports in the January-April 2022 period was due to the increase in energy imports, especially the increase in natural gas and crude oil imports.”
“We will increase our economic growth even higher”
Pointing out that there has been an increase in energy prices all over the world, with the effect of the Russia-Ukraine War, Mus said that this situation, which also affected Turkey, created an upward pressure especially on import prices.
Stating that the aforementioned developments are not unique to Turkey, but have affected European countries much more deeply, Mus made the following assessments:
“According to World Bank data, as of March 2022, natural gas prices in Europe increased by 591.9% compared to the same month of the previous year. The ongoing war, the increasing tension in this context, and Russia’s response to Europe’s efforts to permanently reduce its energy dependence on Russia do not reduce the risk of high prices in energy commodities and price fluctuations. Therefore, I would like to underline once again that the increase in our imports is due to the excessive increase in world energy prices. Despite all these negativities in energy prices, when we evaluate the data, we can say that our country has displayed a very strong export performance compared to the same period of the previous year.”
Noting that he fully believes that the strong performance will continue in the continuation of 2022 and that new records will be reached in exports, Muş used the following statements:
“Especially the pandemic period has shown that Turkey is a reliable supplier. It is an important production base with its strong production infrastructure. With our exports in the last 12 months, reaching $240.1 billion, we are taking firm steps forward with our President’s 2022 end goal of $250 billion. Together with you, we will increase our exports, employment and economic growth even higher. We will work harder, we will produce more, and by exporting Turkish products, we will increase foreign exchange inflow, investments and employment and strengthen the Turkish economy even more.”
Source: Trthaber / Translated by Irem Yildiz