Trade Minister Ömer Bolat, speaking at the "Export Champions Award Ceremony" organized by the Uludağ Automotive Industry Exporters' Association (OİB), said that Turkey has become the world's 13th largest automotive production base.
Noting that nearly six years after the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economy has not settled on a stable growth path and many countries have turned to protectionist economic policies, Bolat drew attention to the increase in trade wars. He said, "The protectionist trade winds in the US, especially in the West, have also affected the European Union. Faced with challenges from the European Union's and the US's declining market shares, as well as the winds that have been blowing in the global trade arena since 2022 driven by China, [the EU] has sought to raise protectionist walls in its manufacturing industry, starting with automotive."
Underlining that Turkey continued its economic growth during this period, Minister Bolat said, "We achieved an average annual growth of 5.4% until the end of 2025. Our exports have also continued to increase since 2021. Our economic growth has been positive for the last 23 quarters, and we have reached a $1.64 trillion economy."
Bolat also touched on export data, noting that a record monthly export figure of $25 billion was reached in June, and that goods exports in the first six months of the year rose 3.6% to $136 billion. Stating that imports rose 4.6% to $189 billion, Bolat said, "We closed the first half with a deficit of about $53 billion. Looking at the past 12 months' data as of the end of June, our goods exports rose 4.1% to $278 billion. Our 12-month exports, which were $273.3 billion last December, have now reached $278 billion. We only need a $4 billion increase to reach our year-end target of $282 billion."
Bolat said that when service exports are added, total exports reached $400.3 billion, and that the ratio of exports to imports in goods trade was 74.4%, praising the role of the automotive sector in this success.
Reminding that the automotive sector has been the export leader for the past 19 years, Bolat said, "The automotive sector has become a source of pride for Turkish industry and Turkey's manufacturing sector on the global stage. This success has come through quality, timely delivery, reliability, sustainability, and a skilled workforce."
Sharing figures on Turkey's global position in automotive, Bolat said, "Our automotive sector, which was the top sector with $41.5 billion in exports last year, is Europe's 5th and the world's 13th largest production base. Turkey ranks among the global giants in the bus and light commercial vehicle segment. According to our 2025 production figures, we are the world's 9th and Europe's 1st in light commercial vehicle production. In bus production, we are the world's 4th."
Bolat noted that in the first half of this year, the main automotive industry exported $12.3 billion and the supply industry exported $8.6 billion, achieving a total of approximately $21 billion, and he also explained the support provided to the sector.
Minister Bolat said that the Ministry of Trade has been intensively using the 45 billion lira export support budget this year, and added, "Within the automotive sector, we support 30 brands of 29 companies under the Turquality program, and 13 brands of 13 companies under the brand program. We also support OİB's project titled 'Promotion of the Turkish Automotive Sector in the New Mobility Ecosystem'."
