Turkey's exports up 9.6% to $16B in February

Export-import coverage ratio at 82.9% last month, according to TurkStat data

ISTANBUL  Turkey's exports increased by 9.6% on an annual basis to reach $16 billion in February, the country's statistical authority said Wednesday. Turkey’s imports last month went up 9.4% to reach $19.3 billion, bringing the foreign trade deficit to $3.29 billion, up by 8.7%, TurkStat said.   The export-import coverage ratio was 82.9% in February, up from 82.8% in the previous year. "Foreign trade deficit, excluding energy products and non-monetary gold, was $224 million in February 2021," the institute noted.
 In the month, the manufacturing industries products took the lion's share from overall exports with 94.2%, followed by agriculture-forestry-fishing with 3.6% and mining-quarrying with 1.8%. While Germany was the main destinations of the Turkish exports with a share of 9.4%, China was the main source of Turkey's imports with a share of 11.6% in February. Foreign trade statistics are calculated using two different methods: 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. "According to the special trade system, in February 2021, exports were $15.1 billion with a 8.8% increase and imports were $18.58 billion with a 9.1% increase compared with February 2020," the institute said.

 During the first two months of the year, exports increased by 5.9% to reach $31.04 billion and imports were up by 1.4% to reach $37.38 billion, on a yearly basis. In the January-February period, the trade deficit narrowed by 15.9% to $6.35 billion, versus the same period last year.​​​​​​​