Turkey's foreign trade balance saw a significant improvement in August 2024, with the trade deficit narrowing by 42.7 per cent to $4.99 billion compared to the same month in 2023. Exports rose by 2.3 per cent to $22.05 billion, while imports dropped 10.7 per cent to $27.04 billion, according to provisional data from the Turkish Statistical Institute and the Ministry of Trade. For the January-August 2024 period, exports increased by 3.9 per cent to $170.8 billion, and imports fell by 8.6 per cent to $225.74 billion. This led to a 33.5 per cent reduction in the foreign trade deficit, which stood at $54.94 billion. Excluding energy products and non-monetary gold, exports in August were $20.15 billion, up 2.5 per cent, and imports totalled $20.45 billion, down 5.6 per cent, resulting in a trade deficit of $302 million. Germany remained Turkey's largest export partner with $1.67 billion, followed by the US and the UK. China topped the list of import partners with $4.02 billion, followed by Russia and Germany. Manufacturing products accounted for 94.6 per cent of total exports in August, with high-tech products making up 3 per cent of manufacturing exports. Imports consisted of 81.7 per cent manufacturing goods, of which 11 per cent were high-tech products. Exports covered 81.5 per cent of imports in August, up from 71.2 per cent the previous year. Attribution: TURKSTAT Subediting: M. S. Salama
