Turkiye’s exports to the USA increased by 28.6% in the first 5 months of the year compared to the same period of 2021 and reached $6 billion 72 million 901 thousand.
Turkiye’s exports in the 5 months of this year increased by 20.4% compared to the same period of the previous year and amounted to $102 billion 504 million.
The USA became the second country to which Turkiye made the most foreign trade in 5 months of the year. Exports to the USA increased by 28.6% in the first 5 months compared to the same period of the previous year and reached $6 billion 72 million 901 thousand. The share of the USA in Turkiye’s exports was 6.52%.
In this period, the most exports of chemicals and products were made to the USA. Exports of chemical materials and products to the USA increased by 55.2% in the first 5 months and reached $682.7 million.
In the first 5 months of the year, the most exports to the USA, where exports were made from 68 cities of Turkiye, were from Istanbul. Bursa, Gaziantep, Kocaeli, Ankara and Izmir followed Istanbul respectively.
Exports of companies from Istanbul to the USA increased by 41.4% in the first 5 months compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching $2 billion 378.3 million.
“The iron and steel industry has the potential to play a much more important role in the trade relations of the two countries”
Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) Turkiye-USA Business Council (TAIK) Chairman Mehmet Ali Yalcindag stated that Turkish-American trade reached record levels with $28 billion at the end of last year and they are pleased to see this strong rise in the first 5 months of 2022.
Considering the official data announced by the Ministry of Commerce, Yalcindag stated that the trade volume with the USA increased by 32% in the first 5 months of the year, exceeding $13 billion. “Last year, for the first time in our history, we started to have a trade surplus in our bilateral trade with the USA. We are extremely proud to have made this success sustainable.”
Expressing that the positive separation in exports is carried by the sectors in which Turkiye is traditionally strong, Yalcindag made the following assessments:
“There are strong increases in the chemical materials, automotive industry, jewelery and ready-made clothing categories, especially in the iron and steel industry. We see a strong increase, approaching 90%, especially in iron and steel exports compared to the previous year. At this point, it should not be overlooked how hard the aluminum and steel additional taxes applied to our country, especially in accordance with Section 232, put Turkish industrialists in. We are aware that the iron and steel industry, which continues to lead our exports to the USA despite the said additional taxes, has the potential to play a much more important role in the trade relations between the two countries. We continue to share our suggestions and demands regarding the solution of the issue with our American counterparts.”
“We have designed our US action plan with an approach centered on the states”
Mehmet Ali Yalcindag stated that the USA is one of Turkiye’s most important strategic partners in trade, as well as the second-largest partner in exports and the fourth largest in imports.
Pointing out that the USA is a country that consists of 50 states with different dynamics and has an economy of $21 trillion, Yalcindag said, “Taking into account that the states have different social and economic dynamics, we have designed our US action plan with an approach centered on the states. For this reason, we have established state committees in California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia under the roof of our Turkiye-USA Business Council for the effective representation of Turkish companies that are already in the US market or that want to enter the market.”
Yalcindag stated that they plan to organize roadshows in 2 states in 2022 and in 3 states in 2023, in addition to annual conferences, in order to increase the efficiency of state committees, “Thus, we aim to rapidly reach our target of bilateral trade of $100 billion by establishing a sustainable relationship between the leading business and political leaders of the target state and Turkish business people.”
Source: Trthaber / Translated by Irem Yildiz