Exports from Turkey decreased by three percent and imports increased by 0.5 percent in October, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (Turkstat) last week.
The Turkish lira’s recent loss of value against the U.S. dollar in was a key factor which pulled down the value of exports, while increasing the gap between total exports and imports value. Exports valued $12.841 million and imports valued $17.004 billion in October, which meant that the foreign trade deficit increasing to $4.164 billion.
Seasonally and calendar-adjusted exports increased by 2.5 percent. Imports decreased by 1.7 percent compared to the previous month. Exports to the 28 countries of the EU, which is Turkey’s largest export market, decreased by 0.8 percent from $6.262 billion to $6.211 billion.
Exports to EU countries represented 48.4 percent of total exports in October 2016; it was 47.3 percent in October 2015.