Türkiye’s goods exports rose 8.1% year on year to $25.885 billion in October, the highest figure ever recorded for that month, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat announced on Tuesday, 3 November, according to Bloomberg HT, Anadolu Agency (via Habertürk) and ForInvest. Bolat said it was also the third-highest monthly export total in the history of the Republic, CNBC-e and the İhlas News Agency reported.
The figure follows the record September exports of about $26 billion reported a month earlier.
Imports and the trade gap
Imports grew more slowly, by 3.4% to $32.584 billion, so the monthly foreign trade deficit narrowed by 11.4% to about $6.7 billion, according to Bloomberg HT and ForInvest. Exports covered 79.4% of imports, 3.4 percentage points more than a year earlier. Excluding energy and gold, which make up a large share of Türkiye’s import bill, the coverage ratio was 101.7%, meaning exports slightly exceeded imports, Habertürk and ForInvest reported.
In the first ten months of the year, exports rose 5.5% to $236.837 billion and imports 5.1% to $314.503 billion. The January-October trade deficit was $77.666 billion, 3.9% higher than in the same period of 2025, with a coverage ratio of 75.3%, according to Bloomberg HT and ForInvest.
Annual targets passed
Over the past 12 months, goods exports reached $285.6 billion, $15.6 billion more than a year earlier and above the government’s $282 billion target, Takvim and Habertürk reported. Bolat said combined exports of goods and services reached about $413 billion on an annualised basis, assuming services exports of $127.4 billion, passing the year-end goal of $410 billion, according to Bloomberg HT and Paratic. CNBC-e quoted him as saying the target had been reached and exceeded as of October.
Cars, chemicals and defence lead
The automotive industry remained the largest exporting sector, with October sales abroad up 5.9% to about $4 billion, according to Bloomberg HT and ForInvest. Chemicals exports rose 13.7% to $3 billion, while defence and aerospace exports jumped 61.1% from a year earlier.
The export rise comes as surveys point to weaker conditions in factories: the Istanbul Chamber of Industry manufacturing PMI stayed in contraction territory in October.
Sources
- Bakan Bolat: Ekim ayında ihracat 25,9 milyar doları aştı (Bloomberg HT)
- İhracatta ekim rekoru (Habertürk / AA)
- Ticaret Bakanlığı: İhracatın ithalatı karşılama oranı ekimde 3,4 puan artarak yüzde 79,4 oldu (ForInvest)
- İhracatta otomotiv 4 milyar doları aşarak rekor kırdı, imalat sanayinin payı yüzde 93,3 oldu (ForInvest)
- Bakan Bolat duyurdu: Ekim ayında ihracatta çifte rekor (CNBC-e)
- Bakan Bolat, Ekim ihracatının yüzde 8,1 artışla 25,9 milyar dolara ulaştığını söyledi (Haberler.com / İHA)
- Türkiye ihracatta ekim rekorunu kırdı! 282 milyar dolarlık hedef geride kaldı (Takvim)
- Bolat, Ekim ayı ihracat rakamlarını açıkladı: Türkiye’den yeni rekor (Paratic)
Photo: Antoloji / CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
