The Trade Ministry is working to diversify Turkiye’s export markets as demand from the European Union is expected to weaken, Trade Minister Mehmet Muş has said.
Global risks and uncertainties are likely to heighten for Turkiye too in the period ahead and demand from the European Union, which is foreseen to lose momentum further creates risks for the country’s exports, Muş said, speaking at the parliament’s budget and planning commission.
“That’s why we are working on plans, which are designed to diversity markets by channeling our exporters to alternative markets,” the minister added.
Muş noted that 328 actions which targets 18 nations, have already been taken under the “distant countries” strategy, which aims to increase Turkiye’s exports to those countries fourfold.
The minister recalled that Turkiye’s exports increased by 15.4 percent in the first ten months of 2022 compared with the same period of last year to $209.5 billion, with sales to the Americas recording the highest increase.
“Exports to the European Union, our largest trading partner rose by 13.5 percent,” said Muş, noting that Turkiye’s trade surplus with the bloc reached $9.7 billion.
The trade surplus with the U.K amounted to $6 billion, he added.
“This success was achieved despite the adverse impacts from the U.S dollar to euro exchange rate.”
Muş also stressed the effects of high energy prices on Turkiye’s import bill.
Some 63 percent of the increase in the country’s imports stemmed from the energy and gold imports, he explained.
“Our energy imports grew by 118.4 percent or by $43.7 billion in the first ten months of 2022 from a year ago. This increase was due to the energy prices.Our gold imports rose by 198.4 percent or $10.1 billion over the same period compared with the ten months of 2021,” Muş explained.
Turkiye’s overall imports amounted to $300.6 billion in January-October, rising 39.5 percent year-on-year, according to the latest data from the Trade Ministry.
The country’s foreign trade deficit soared 168.5 percent to $91.1 billion.
In October alone, exports increased by 2.8 percent on an annual basis to $21.3 billion, while the increase in imports was 31.9 percent to $29.3 billion. The foreign trade gap widened more than 430 percent year-on-year to $8 billion.
Meanwhile, the Istanbul Chamber of Industry’s (ISO) Turkiye manufacturing export climate index dropped to 47.9 in October from 48.8 in September.
“Demand conditions in export markets have now deteriorated in three successive months, with the latest moderation the sharpest since the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020,” the chamber said in a statement.