Turkiye's exports total $22.7B in March

ISTANBUL

Turkiye's exports reached $22.7 billion in March, up 19.8% on a yearly basis, the country's trade minister said on Monday.

Mehmet Mus said the export figure hit an all-time high for the month of March.

The country's imports in March amounted to $30.9 billion, with $8.4 billion of it coming from energy imports, he added.

The country's energy imports on a value basis increased 156% year-on-year in March due to a sharp increase in energy prices recently, the minister further said.

The export-import coverage ratio was 73.4% in March, while it was 95% when the energy imports were excluded.

Mus said Turkiye's exports in the last 12 months reached $235.6 billion, describing it as a positive sign for the year-end target of $250 billion.

According to a press release issued by the Trade Ministry on Monday, the main destination for the Turkish exports in March was Germany with $1.9 billion, up 13.7% year-on-year.

The US followed Germany with $1.56 billion, increasing 25.6% from March 2021, and Italy with $1.27 billion, up 30.5%.

The EU's share in Turkiye's exports was $9.97 billion in March, the ministry said.

Among sectors, the manufacturing industry got the lion's share with 94.9%. Agriculture-forestry-aquaculture (3.1%) and mining-quarrying (1.5%) followed it.

Main import sources were Russia ($4.1 billion), China ($3.6 billion), and Germany ($2.24 billion) in March 2022.

In the first quarter of this year, Turkiye's exports soared 20.8% to $60.3 billion and imports rose 42.1% to $86.68 billion.

The foreign trade deficit was up 138.4% to $26.4 billion in the three-month period.