Turkey’s foreign trade deficit drops by 15.4 pct upon fall in oil imports, rise in exports to EU

ISTANBUL – Reuters

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Turkey’s foreign trade deficit has fallen 15.4 percent to $84.5 billion in 2014, due to a rise in exports to the EU, dramatic decrease in gold imports and plunging oil prices, according to data released by Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) on Jan. 30.

Turkey’s exports increased to $157.72 billion in 2014 by a 3.9 percent of increase from the previous year, the all-time highest in the country. The country’s imports decreased to $242.22 billion in 2014 by a 3.7 percent of decrease from the previous year.

The export target for 2014 was announced as $160.5 billion, for imports as $244 billion and for trade deficit as 83.5 billion in the Medium-Term Economic Plan.

The deficit was announced at $8.5 billion for December 2014 with a 14.6 percent decrease from the same period of the previous year, parallel with the expectations, according to the TÜİK data.

Turkey’s exports increased by 1.2 percent in December 2014 to $13.33 billion from the previous period and imports decreased to $21.83 billion with a 5.6 percent decrease.

Exports to the EU increased by 1.8 percent to $5.4 billion, increasing the share of the EU countries in total exports to 40.2 percent in December 2014 from 40 percent in December 2013.

Turkey’s main exports market was Germany in December with $1.2 billion, followed by Iraq with $1.1 billion, the U.K. with $763 million and the U.S. with $722 million.

Turkey’s imports from China stood at $2.3 billion in December, followed by Germany with $2.2 billion, Russia with $2.1 billion and the U.S. with $1.1 billion.

Turkey’s energy imports decreased to $4.43 billion in December 2014 by 15.2 percent from the previous year. The country’s energy imports fell to $54.91 billion in 2014 by a 1.8 percent decrease from the previous year. Analysts expect more decrease in Turkey’s energy imports in value in 2015 due to the decreasing trend in oil prices.