Turkey: Machinery exports reach $11B in 8 months

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA

Turkey's total machinery exports reached $11 billion in the first eight months of 2018, an exporters' association said Thursday.

The exports jumped by 16.6 percent over the same period last year, the Machinery Exporters' Association (MAIB) said in a press release.

The sector exported products mostly to Germany, the U.S. and the U.K., as exports to the U.S. and Russia were up by 21.9 percent and 43.2 percent, respectively.

On a monthly basis, the country's machinery exports were also up at $1.8 billion in August from $1.65 billion in the same month of 2017.

"The price per kilo rate in our exports increased to $6.2 in the first 8 months, from $5.7 in the same period of last year," MAIB chairman Kutlu Karavelioglu said.

MAIB has set a target of $18-billion worth of machinery exports by the end of the year.

Turkey's overall exports between January and August rose 5.3 percent to reach $108.7 billion, according to Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TIM) data.