According to the provisional foreign trade statistics compiled by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) and the Turkish Undersecretariat of Customs, in May this year Turkey's foreign trade deficit decreased by 28.7 percent to $7.11 billion compared to $9.97 billion in May last year. In the iron and steel sector, Turkey's foreign trade deficit was $710.18 million in May this year, increasing by 34 percent from $530.03 million recorded in May 2013.
In May this year, Turkey's iron and steel exports ranked third among the country's products with the highest export value, totaling $897.09 million, up by 2.8 percent from April and down 3.5 percent year on year. Meanwhile, in given month the value of exports of articles of iron or steel, which ranked sixth among the products with the highest export value, increased by 13.2 percent month on month and rose by 18.6 percent year on year, amounting to $622.36 million.
Meanwhile, in the first five months of the current year, the value of the country's iron and steel exports totaled $4.24 billion, while the value of its exports of articles of iron or steel amounted to $2.72 billion, decreasing by 9.5 percent and up 8.9 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 five months of this year with $7.76 billion, up 12.6 percent year on year.