Turkish exports declined 19 percent in May year-on-year

ANKARA

Exports in May were down 19 percent from the same month in 2014, the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly reported on Monday, amid fallout from an autoworkers' strike in May.

Exports in May were $10.8 billion. In the first five months of the year, they amounted to $61.3 billion, 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, head of Turkish Exporters’ Assembly, Mehmet Buyukeksi, said that recent strikes in the automotive sector had maximized a decline in exports as well as production.

"According to our calculations we saw a loss of $250 million in the sub-industry and $300 million in the main automotive industry. Overall losses exceeded $500 million and made a minus 4 percentage points effect on monthly exports," Buyukeksi said.

In 2014 the Turkish auto industry was one of largest contributors to the country's exports, shouldering over 11 percent of Turkey's overall exports with a volume of $18 billion.

However, the sector was shaken by strikes which erupted in the middle of May when workers from prominent Turkish auto manufacturers including Ford Otosan, Renault, Tofas (an affiliate of FIAT) and many auto-parts suppliers took wildcat industrial action.