Turkish Ministry of Commerce said Thursday that foreign trade deficit decreased by 67.30 percent in March compared to the same month of the previous year and foreign trade volume decreased by 10.08 percent.

The Ministry of Commerce announced in March 2019 temporary foreign trade, company, tradesmen and cooperative data bulletin.

Accordingly, the foreign trade deficit decreased by 67.30 percent in March compared to the same month of the previous year and fell to a billion 966 million dollars. Foreign trade volume declined by 10.08 percent to $ 34 billion 633 million.

According to the General Trade System [GTS], exports increased by 0.50 percent compared to the same month of the previous year and increased to 16 billion 334 million dollars. Imports decreased by 17.81 percent to 18 billion 299 million dollars. 
In the last 12-month period, exports increased by 6.46 percent compared to the previous year and reached the highest level with 178 billion 324 million dollars.

In March, the foreign trade deficit decreased by 67.30 percent compared to the same period of the previous year to a billion 966 million dollars. Foreign trade volume declined by 10.08 percent to $ 34 billion 633 million.

The ratio of exports to imports, which was 73 percent in March 2018, reached 89.3 percent in March 2019.

In the "Motor Vehicles" section, exports amounted to 2 billion 529 million dollars in March with a decrease of 7.12%. In March, most exports were "Boilers and machinery" (One billion 577 million dollars) and "Iron and Steel" ($ 987 million), respectively.

In March, Germany, Britain, and Iraq were the most exported countries, while the first three were the Russian Federation, Germany and China for import.

In March, exports to Germany decreased by 7.13 percent compared to the same month of the previous year, while exports to Spain increased to 10.28 percent.

In March, exports were 8,8 percent for Iraq, 10,3 percent for Spain, 4,4 percent for the United States, 8.3 percent for Romania and 30.2 percent for Saudi Arabia.

According to GTS, the top three export countries accounted for 20.18 percent of total exports as of March, while the share of top importers in total imports was observed as 28.38 percent.

Exports to the European Union countries in March increased by 4.6 percent compared to the same month of the previous year to $ 7 billion 987 million, while exports to these countries accounted for 48.9 percent of total exports.

In March 2019, exports to Russia increased by 2.1 percent, and exports to Mexico increased by 14.5 percent.

In addition, an increase in exports to Taiwan in March with 120 percent, Qatar with 91.5 percent, Singapore with 65.1 percent and Japan with 57.7 percent attracted attention.

The most common type of transport in foreign trade was sea transportation

According to GTS, when the exportation in March 2019 is examined, the most exports are made with the "sea route" (10 billion 20 million dollars) that flowed by the "land route" (4 billion 811 million dollars) and the "air route" (1 billion 207 million dollars) respectively.

When looking at the modes of transport of imports, most imports are made with "sea route" (11 billion 69 million dollars), followed by "land route" transportation (3 billion 258 million dollars) and "air route" (2 billion 832 million dollars) respectively. (ILKHA)