UPDATE - Turkey's foreign trade gap falls 43.5% in 2019

UPDATE WITH MORE DETAILS

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's foreign trade gap in 2019 dropped 43.5% to stand at $31.17 billion, down from $55.12 billion in 2018, the country's statistical authority announced on Friday.

TurkStat reported that during 2019 the country's exports rose 2.1% to reach $171.5 billion while imports fell 9.1% to stand at $202.7 billion.

Turkey's export/import coverage ratio reached 84.6% last year, up from 75.3% in 2018, the institute said.

In December, Turkey made exports of $14.7 billion, up 6.4% on a yearly basis, while the country's imports rose 14.9% to reach $19.2 billion.

The foreign trade deficit in December was $4.3 billion, up 57.6% versus the same month in the previous year.

"In December 2019, the exports coverage imports was 77.3% while it was 83.4% in December 2018," it added.

On the other hand, according to the general trade system, in 2019, exports were $180.72 billion, up 2.2%, and imports were $210.26 billion, down 9.1% from 2018.

Foreign trade statistics are calculated using two different systems, the special and the general trade systems.

The general trade system is a wider concept, including customs warehouses, all types of free zones, free circulation areas, and premises for inward processing.

- EU remains top trading partner

In 2019, Germany remained the main partner for Turkey's exports with $15.3 billion, followed by the U.K. ($10.8 billion), Italy ($9.3 billion), Iraq ($8.99 billion), and the U.S. ($8.58 billion).

Turkey’s exports to EU, its main trading partner with a share of 48.5%, last year dropped 0.9% year-on-year to total $83.2 billion.

The country's imports from EU were $69.37 billion, down 34.2% year-on-year in 2019. Turkey posted a trade surplus of over $13.8 billion with EU in the year.

In the year, exports to Asian and African countries, the other largest export markets for Turkish products, were $44.4 billion and $15.88 billion, respectively.

Russia was the top country for Turkey’s imports last year with almost $22.45 billion, followed by China with $18.5 billion, Germany with $17.97 billion, and the U.S. with $11.18 billion.

- Manufacturing exports reach $161.5B

The data showed that manufacturing took the lion's share of overall exports, at 94.2% or $161.5 billion.

Agriculture and forestry exports ($5.5 billion) had a 3.2% share, while mining and quarrying exports ($3.2 billion) got a share of 1.9%.

The share of high-tech products in manufacturing industry exports was 3.5%, while the shares of medium-high and medium-low technology products were 36% and 27.5%, respectively.

On the imports side, the share of high-tech products in 2019 was 15.3%.