Turkish exports reached $61.6 billion in January-May, down 20% year-on-year amid the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s statistical authority said.
Imports also posted a decline of 5.2% to $82.6 billion, resulting foreign trade gap to double and hit $21 billion the first five months of this year. Turkey’s exports were nearly $10 billion in May, falling 41% from same month last year while imports also slipped 28% to $13.4 billion.
MANUFACTURING SECTOR’S SHARE OF EXPORTS WAS 93.8 PERCENT
As exports decreased sharper than imports, foreign trade deficit rose 102.7% year-on-year hitting $3.4 billion in May.
TurkStat said the manufacturing sector’s share of exports was 93.8%, while agriculture, forestry and fishing’s share was 3.7%, and mining and quarrying’s share was 1.9%.
The institute added that the share of high-tech products was 3.8% of manufacturing industries exports and 12.3% of imports.
Intermediate goods took the lion’s share, with 76.7% of overall exports, followed by capital goods (14.5%) and consumption goods (8.4%).