$5.6B Exports from Turkey to Its Neighbors

While securing Turkey’s place in the export market, its continuous progress draws attention. Turkey, which experiences different developments and rises every month, drew a table of progress in the first quarter of 2022. The country exported 60 billion 288 million dollars in the January-March period. This was recorded as the “best first quarter export” performance. Moreover, 5.6 billion dollars of exports to neighboring countries were also among the data.

Retired Turkish Ambassador Adnan Başağa’s comments on the definition of a neighboring country and the situation in Turkey on the Official Site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs draw attention. According to Başağa’s definition, due to Turkey’s physical location, border neighbors can be classified as “Turkey’s land neighbors”. However, the framework that comes to mind at first glance is insufficient for today’s understanding of trade and the evolution of commercial ties. In conclusion, considering that Turkey is a regional country due to its geostrategic location, it would be more accurate to define them as “Turkey’s close neighbor by land and sea”.

Based on this statement, 5.6 billion dollars of exports were realized to its land neighbors.

How Much Did Turkey Export to Its Land Neighbors?

Turkey exported 5 billion 636 million dollars to Iran, Greece, Iraq, Georgia, Syria and Bulgaria in the first quarter. This amount was 4 billion 323 million dollars in the same period of the previous year. Thus, exports to these countries increased by 30.4 percent in the January-March period compared to the same month of the previous year. This increase created hope both in the country’s economy and in the expectations of manufacturers.

In the first quarter, the highest export was made to Iraq with 2 billion 446 million 554 thousand dollars. This country was followed by Bulgaria with 1 billion 59 million 293 thousand dollars. While Greece was among the data with 790 million 940 thousand dollars, Iran followed it with 560 million 265 thousand dollars. Georgia with 396 million 177 thousand dollars and Syria with 383 million 267 thousand dollars are other neighboring countries at the end of the list.

What Did Turkey Export the Most to Neighboring Countries?

When the distribution of Turkey’s 3-month exports to its neighbors by sectors is analyzed, it is seen that the “chemical substances and products” sector takes the first place. In the January-March period, 856 million 548 thousand dollars were exported from this sector to 6 neighboring countries. This sector was followed by “grains, pulses, oilseeds and products” with 807 million 448 thousand dollars. Finally, “steel” was among the most imported products from Turkey with 525 million 456 thousand dollars.

Having a similar data table last year, Turkey continues to break records every year. Turkey is defined as a regional center in foreign trade due to its geopolitical position. In the same period last year, chemicals and products were in the first place in exports to its land neighbors. At the same time, Nakhchivan and Armenia are also included in the category of land neighbors. Although the data on Nakhchivan is unknown, there is no trade with Armenia.

The Greatest March Exports in Turkey

Minister of Commerce Mehmet Muş held a press conference with İsmail Gülle, President of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), at the Conference Hall of the Ministry of Commerce. In the press conference, foreign trade data was evaluated in general. In addition, he announced the foreign trade figures for March at the press conference held.

Muş emphasized that the momentum gained in exports in 2021 continued this year as well. He continued his words as follows. “Our exports in March 2022 increased by 19.8 percent compared to March of last year and reached 22.7 billion dollars.” And he added, “This figure is the greatest ultimate figure for March of all time.

Minister Muş said that the ratio of exports to imports was 73.4 percent in March. He pointed out that this ratio, excluding energy, increased by 4.5 points to 95 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. Mentioning the export effect of the increase in imports, Muş continued his words. “When we evaluate all these data, we can say that our country has displayed a very strong export performance compared to the same period of the previous year.”

Negative effects such as inflation movements, wars and epidemics cause many disputes in foreign trade. However, in addition to reinforcing ties with neighboring countries, foreign trade with European countries is gaining momentum day by day.

An increase in exports reveals an increase in production. In this context, manufacturers also enter the export sector. Turkish Goods exports to Turkey’s land neighbor countries by all means of transportation. Acting with the slogan “From Turkey to the World”, it covers not only neighboring countries but also all countries. For this reason, you do not need to think about procurement stages or buyers.