ANKARA
Turkey’s exports declined in the first month of the year as the country started to feel the bite of slowing economic activity in its major export markets, official data revealed on Monday.
In January, Turkey’s overall export volume dropped by 9.8 percent year-on-year, declining from $11.97 billion a year earlier to $10.8 billion according to Turkish Exporters Assembly’s figures.
There are serious declines in exports to Turkey’s largest markets with exports to Germany slipping 12 percent, Iraq 16 percent, Italy 3 percent and the U.K. one percent.
“We see that problems in our export markets are the main factors which suppress our exports performance. We are located in a region where geopolitical risks are meshed with each other,” ALB Securities analyst Enver Erkan said.
“Iraq is an important trade partner as well as Russia. Decline in exports to Iraq, economic problems in Russia and the falling purchasing power of the euro creates a handicap for the Turkish economy."
The tumbling euro/dollar rate poses significant risk to the Turkish economy due to its breakdown of export markets in which EU countries are the largest export markets for Turkish goods, with an over 40 percent share.
However, Turkey makes over 60 percent of its imports in US dollars, putting Turkey in a disadvantageous spot as the euro/dollar rate sinks.
