(AA Photo)
Türkiye’s foreign trade deficit widened 22.3 percent year-on-year to $5.24 billion in August as imports grew faster than exports, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) said on Sept. 30.
Exports rose 8.1 percent to $23.47 billion, while imports increased 10.5 percent to $28.71 billion. Exports covered 81.7 percent of imports, down from 83.5 percent a year earlier.
In the first eight months of 2026, exports rose 4 percent from a year earlier to $185 billion, while imports grew 5.3 percent to $250.79 billion. The trade gap widened 9.3 percent to $65.79 billion. Exports covered 73.8 percent of imports, down from 74.7 percent a year earlier.
Excluding energy products and non-monetary gold, the August deficit stood at $1.09 billion. Exports on this basis rose 2.7 percent to $20.83 billion, while imports increased 9.6 percent to $21.92 billion.
Adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects, exports rose 0.6 percent from July, while imports fell 1.1 percent.
Manufacturing accounted for 93.6 percent of August exports, with high-technology products making up 3.6 percent of manufacturing exports.
Intermediate goods represented 70.7 percent of August imports, followed by consumer goods at 15.5 percent and capital goods at 13.5 percent.
Germany was Türkiye’s largest export market in August at $1.76 billion, followed by the United States at $1.73 billion and the United Kingdom at $1.20 billion. Iraq and Switzerland completed the top five, which accounted for 29.2 percent of exports.
China was the largest source of imports at $4.71 billion, followed by Germany at $2.07 billion and Russia at $1.94 billion.
