Turkey’s exports decline by 19 percent in May year-on-year

Exports in May were announced at $10.8 billion. In the first five months of the year, exports decreased to $61.3 billion, with an 8.3 percent decline in total exports from last year.

For the last 12 months, exports declined 2.7 percent year-on-year to $151.7 billion.

Announcing the May export figures, Turkish Exporters’ Assembly head Mehmet Büyükekşi said the negative effect of the parity was around $1.1 billion in May and $5.7 billion in the first five months of the year. 

Büyükekşi added the labor disputes in the automotive sector caused more than $500 million in loss across the economy. 

During the labor protests across the automotive sector, which started on May 15 in the northwestern province of Bursa, production activities halted in several car giants, including Oyak Renault, Tofaş and Ford Otosan. The activities then resumed in the first two companies as well as in most auto part factories. 

While automotive exports decreased to $1.48 billion, a 27.4 percent decline, in May from the same period of the previous year, the sector remained the top exporter, according to the TİM data. 

The automotive sector was followed by the chemical products sector with $1.38 billion, a 13 percent decrease, and the confection sector with $13.5 billion, a 16.4 percent decrease, in May from the same months of the previous year. 

In the first five months of the year, automotive exports decreased by 11.9 percent from the same period of 2014 to $8.52 billion. 

The most exports were made to Germany, Britain, Iraq, Italy and the U.S. in May, Büyükekşi said. The exports to Germany, however, decreased by 26 percent from the same month of last year, to Britain by 16 percent, to Iraq by 38 percent, to Italy by 22 percent and to the U.S. by 15 percent. 

The highest increase in exports was seen in the exports to Singapore among the top 30 importers of Turkey by a 544 percent increase in May from the same month of the previous year. 

As the TİM’s figures do not include gold exports, more dramatic decreases are seen in its figures than those from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK). 

Turkey’s foreign trade deficit narrowed in January to $4.31 billion, a 37.5 percent decrease from the same month of the previous year, due to the decrease in oil prices and the rise in gold exports, mainly to Switzerland, as the TÜİK announced on May 29.