According to the provisional foreign trade statistics compiled by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) and the Turkish Undersecretariat of Customs, in March this year Turkey's foreign trade deficit decreased by 30.1 percent to $5.20 billion compared to $7.44 billion in March last year. In the iron and steel sector, Turkey's foreign trade deficit was $535.92 million in March this year, increasing by 7.9 percent from $496.80 million recorded in March 2013.
In March this year, Turkey's iron and steel exports ranked sixth among the products with the highest export value, totaling $839.44 million, down by 3.6 percent from February and down 20.9 percent year on year. Meanwhile, in the given month the value of exports of articles of iron or steel, which ranked eighth among the products with the highest export value, increased by 13 percent month on month and rose by 0.7 percent year on year, amounting to $544.82 million.
Meanwhile, in the first quarter of the current year, the value of the country's iron and steel exports totaled $2.49 billion, while the value of its exports of articles of iron or steel amounted to $1.56 billion, decreasing by 11.3 percent and up five percent respectively, both compared to the corresponding period of 2013.
Motor vehicles and parts was the domestic sector with the highest export value in the first quarter this year with $4.38 billion, up 8.6 percent year on year.