Trade Minister Ömer Bolat announced September foreign trade data in Istanbul. Bolat said exports totaled $26 billion in September, marking the highest export figure ever recorded for the month.
September exports rose 15.4 percent year on year. Total annualized goods exports increased to $283.7 billion.
Bolat said this level of annual goods exports surpassed the $282 billion target set by the Medium-Term Program.
According to the Trade Ministry's provisional data, compiled on the basis of the General Trade System, imports rose 5.9 percent in September to $31.208 billion, while the foreign trade deficit narrowed 24.8 percent to $5.232 billion. Foreign trade volume grew 10 percent to $57.185 billion, and the ratio of exports covering imports rose 6.8 points to 83.2 percent. Germany was the top export destination in September with $2.045 billion, followed by the US with $1.919 billion and the UK with $1.43 billion.
In the January-September period, exports rose 5.2 percent year-on-year to $210.973 billion and imports increased 5.4 percent to $281.998 billion, while the foreign trade deficit widened 5.8 percent to $71.025 billion. Speaking after a meeting with the MÜSİAD High Advisory Board, Bolat said exports increased by $10.5 billion in the first nine months. Over the past 12 months, services exports reached a record $125.4 billion, bringing total goods and services exports to $409.1 billion.
Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz said on his NSosyal account that annualized exports had reached $283.7 billion, the highest level in the history of the Republic, noting that the performance came at a time of weak global demand. Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said on X that, despite imports rising on the back of commodity prices, the increase in the foreign trade deficit had been more limited than anticipated at the start of the US/Israel-Iran war, and that the current account deficit was expected to remain at a manageable 2.6 percent of national income.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also assessed the September export figures in a statement on Sunday. Saying Türkiye was continuing on its path of development and growth despite wars and crises in the region, Erdoğan said September exports were the highest for that month in the Republic's history and that exports had risen 5.2 percent since the start of the year to $211 billion.
