Turkey's automotive exports in first 11 months top $28B

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's automotive industry exports totaled $28.05 billion in the first 11 months of this year, an exporters association announced on Wednesday.

The country's automotive exports dropped 3.6% year-on-year in the first 11-month period, said the Uludag Automotive Industry Exporters' Association (OIB).

Despite the decline in exports, the auto sector ranked first in the country's overall exports, which reached $165 billion in the same period.

Car exports, which constituted 38% of automotive exports, fell 6% to $10.75 billion, while supply industry exports dropped 3% to $9.8 billion.

Exports of motor vehicles for goods transport also saw a decline of 9% to stand at $4.46 billion.

Germany was the top destination for automotive exports in the same period, with over $4 billion, followed by France ($3.13 billion) and Italy ($2.65 billion).

The EU market constituted 76.8% of all country's automotive exports in the 11-month period.

In November, the sector's exports reached nearly $2.7 billion, dropping 3% on a yearly basis.

- Automotive industry changes

Meanwhile, Baran Celik, the head of the OIB, reminded that Turkey is the 15th largest automotive producer in the world, the fifth automobile producer and the second commercial vehicle producer in Europe.

"The Turkish automotive industry proved itself globally with its quality and competence," he said in a press conference in the industrial city of Bursa.

The automotive industry has a huge change with electric cars, mobility, autonomous vehicles and sharable cars, he underlined.

The transformation of the industry creates great opportunities for all suppliers, he noted.

He added: "We produced 1.19 million vehicles in the first 10 months of 2019 and exported 87% of them, the value added of our products is higher than the previous year."