Türkiye exported $25 billion and $885 million worth of goods in October, reaching the highest October export figure on record. Trade Minister Ömer Bolat said exports rose 8.1% from the same month last year, according to data he announced alongside Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) President Mustafa Gültepe at the TİM Foreign Trade Complex in Istanbul. Bolat said, "We have reached the third-highest monthly export figure in the 103-year history of our Republic," and stressed that the increase was achieved despite adverse effects from the calendar and exchange-rate parity.
Imports rose 3.4% in October to $32.6 billion, while the foreign trade deficit fell 11.4% to $6.7 billion; the deficit narrowed by approximately $863 million from a year earlier. The ratio of exports to imports rose 3.4 percentage points to 79.4%, while total foreign trade volume reached $58.5 billion after increasing 5.4%. Bolat said most of the increase in imports stemmed from energy items such as natural gas and oil because of the impact of the conflict in the Gulf.
Annual exports exceed target by $3.5 billion
Exports rose 5.5% to $236.8 billion in the January-October period, while imports increased 5.1% to $314.5 billion. Goods exports over the past 12 months rose by $15.6 billion from October last year to $285.6 billion, surpassing by $3.5 billion the year-end target of $282 billion set in the Medium-Term Program. Bolat said annualized total exports, including services, had reached an estimated $413 billion, exceeding the $410 billion target set by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Bolat said they expected to close the year with approximately $50 billion in exports in November and December, putting the annual total at around $287 billion, and forecast that the annual foreign trade deficit would remain below $100 billion. Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz also commented on the figures, saying, "Our annualized exports have risen to $285.6 billion, the highest level in the history of our Republic."
Automotive exports exceed $4 billion for first time, defense rises 61%
According to TİM data, the automotive industry was the top exporting sector in October, exceeding the $4 billion threshold for the first time on a monthly basis: The sector’s exports rose 5.9% to $4.03 billion. Automotive was followed by chemicals, up 13.7% to $3 billion, and electrical and electronics, up 17.6% to $1.93 billion. In percentage terms, the defense and aerospace industry led with a 61.1% increase; the sector’s exports totaled $1.14 billion in October and $8.05 billion in January-October. Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom ranked among the top three export destinations, while Istanbul led among provinces with approximately $9 billion.
Bolat said exports to the European Union had reached $99 billion in 10 months and that the year could close with approximately $120 billion in exports to the EU. Bolat said annual exports of medium-high- and high-technology products had risen to $118.6 billion, bringing their share of the total close to 44%, and recalled that exports had increased in 31 of the past 42 months, with monthly records set in 24 of them. The minister also announced that TİM and the Automotive Exporters’ Association would hold an automotive summit in Berlin on November 19.
Gültepe calls on Central Bank to support foreign-currency conversion
TİM President Mustafa Gültepe congratulated exporters on their October performance and said they welcomed the Central Bank’s resumption of interest-rate cuts. However, Gültepe said difficulties with the 3% foreign-currency conversion support, whose implementation rules were changed at the beginning of October, were increasing. He said they expected the support to be increased to narrow the gap between inflation and the exchange rate, adding, "However, the outcome was not at all what we expected." Gültepe said, "We call on the Central Bank to review the current situation as soon as possible and at least return to the previous practice," and added that they also expected steps to improve exporters’ access to low-cost, long-term credit.
In his presentation at the meeting, Bolat also said the Türkiye economy had grown uninterruptedly for the past 16 years, that the annualized national income of the economy, which grew by 2.5% in the first half of 2026, had reached an all-time high of $1 trillion and $706 billion, and that the unemployment rate had remained in single digits for 41 months.
Photos: Ministry of Trade. Videos: AA, TİM
