Exports declined by 17.1 percent in April from a year ago to $19.3 billion, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) have shown.
Imports were down 4.8 percent last month compared with April 2022 to $28 billion.
The foreign trade deficit, consequently, widened 42.1 percent on an annual basis to $8.74 billion.
Exports grew 4.4 percent to $23.6 billion, and imports increased by 3.4 percent year-on-year to $31.9 billion in March, resulting in a foreign trade gap of $8.34 billion.
When energy and gold imports were excluded, the country’s imports exhibited an increase of 3 percent to stand at $21.9 billion in April.
The export/import coverage ratios dropped from 79.1 percent in April 2022 to 68.9 percent last month.
As was the case in previous months, Germany was Turkiye’s largest export market in April. Shipments to this country amounted to $1.59 billion. The U.S. and Iraq ranked second and third at $1.16 billion and $970 million, respectively.
Italy’s imports from Turkiye amounted to $954 million, while exports to the U.K. stood at $945 million.
The share of the top five countries in Turkiye’s total export revenues was 29.1 percent, TÜİK said.
The European Union absorbed more than 42 percent of the country’s exports last month. Export to the bloc, however, fell 17.9 percent compared with April 2022 to $8.15 billion.
Russia accounted for nearly 15 percent – or $ 4.2 billion – of the country’s imports in April, followed by China at 13.2 percent – or $3.69 billion.
Turkiye bought $2.18 billion worth of goods from Germany last month, while imports from Italy and the U.S. amounted to $1.15 billion and $1.12 billion, respectively.
Intermediate goods imports plunged 14.6 percent on an annual basis to $20.5 billion, while consumer goods imports grew 67 percent to $3.6 billion.
In the first four months of 2023, Turkiye’s export revenues totaled nearly $81 billion, declining 3 percent from a year earlier. Imports grew by 7.1 percent annually in the January-April period to $124.3 billion. The country’s foreign trade deficit widened by 32.9 percent to $43.3 billion.
In the final edition of the medium-term program for the 2023-2025 period, the government forecast that exports would climb to $265 billion this year, while imports were seen at $345 billion.
According to the government’s estimates, Turkiye’s energy bill import is expected to stand at $85 billion in 2023, while the foreign trade deficit will reach $80 billion.