Türkiye says achieved 3 records in exports in July

Turkish exporters set three records in July, including the highest-ever July shipments, annualized exports and total goods and services sales, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat said Monday. Exports rose 2.9% year-over-year to $25.6 billion in July, the second-highest monthly total to date, Bolat told a press conference in Istanbul. Imports increased 5.2% to nearly $33 billion, official data showed. The foreign trade deficit widened 14% to $7.37 billion, compared with $6.46 billion in July 2025. Türkiye's foreign trade volume expanded 4.1% to $58.6 billion. The export-to-import coverage ratio declined by 1.7 percentage points to 77.7%. Excluding energy and gold trade, the export-to-import coverage ratio stood at 90.8% in July. In the first seven months, exports grew 3.4% year-over-year to $161.6 billion, while imports rose 4.7% to $222.1 billion. The January-July trade gap increased 8.2% to $60.5 billion. Total trade volume rose 4.1% to $383.7 billion. The export-to-import coverage ratio stood at 72.8%, down from 73.6% in the same period last year. Annualized exports reached an all-time high of $278.6 billion as of July, increasing 3.4% from the previous 12-month period, Bolat said. Imports climbed 5% to $375.3 billion. The trade deficit rose 7.4% to $96.8 billion. Considering that the deficit ended last year with a deficit of $92.2 billion, Bolat said the gap is "under control." "Despite all the wars in our region – to the north, east, and south – and the negative impacts on energy and raw materials, price increases, and rising costs in freight, insurance, and transportation, our trade deficit has increased by only $4.4 billion over the past year," he noted. Compared to December, there was an increase of $4.55 billion. "This is a tolerable situation," said Bolat. "The trade deficit remains under control and continues to show a stable trend." Türkiye's services exports are estimated to have reached $122.6 billion on an annualized basis as of July, he added. That would lift the annualized exports of goods and services to over $401 billion. Last month, the figure was $400.3 billion. "This is also a record," said Bolat. In other words, three record figures were achieved in July." The annualized foreign trade volume increased 4.3% to $653.9 billion, while the export-to-import coverage ratio fell to 74.2% from 75.3%. The data showed Germany was Türkiye's largest export destination in July, receiving $2 billion worth of goods, followed by the U.S. with $1.7 billion and the U.K. with $1.3 billion. By broad economic category, exports of intermediate goods totaled $13.3 billion, while consumer goods exports amounted to $7.9 billion and capital goods exports stood at $3.7 billion. Manufacturing accounted for $24.2 billion of total exports, while agriculture, forestry and fisheries contributed $800 million and mining and quarrying generated $500 million. Bolat said the euro/dollar exchange rate had worked against exporters in July. "While it was 1.18 last year, this month's average of 1.14 resulted in a loss of $300 million for us," he said.