Turkey's December foreign trade figures

Turkey’s December foreign trade figures

Turkey's trade balance posted a deficit of $4 billion in December, up by 9.3% year-on-year, according to the data announced by the State Institute of Statistics (DIE). The figure was higher than the market consensus of $3.1 billion. While exports rose in line with expectations to $6.2 billion in December, imports widened the deficit by surging to $10.2 billion. In the light of these data, the current account's balance of payments is expected to post a deficit of $2.9 billion in December. With the December figure, total exports in 2004 reached $62.8 billion, up by 32.8% year-on-year while imports registered a 40.1% increase, reaching $97.2 billion. Consequently, annual trade deficit surpassed $34 billion in 2004. The trend in external balances is not expected to show a change in January 2005 due to recovery in consumer confidence after the green light from the EU and ongoing appreciation of the TRL. December exports rose by 35.8% year-on-year as exports of plastics rose 39%, steel 52%, iron products 75%, machinery 39% and motor vehicles 83%. In addition, imports increased by 24.1% year-on-year, reflecting the demand for imported goods registered an increase in December. Particularly, iron and steel imports jumped by 96% year-on-year, whereas petroleum imports reached $519 million in December. Separately, the destination of exports remained unchanged with the member states of EU capturing a share of 54.8%. African countries' share in exports rose to 4.7% from 4.5% and Middle Eastern countries' share rose to 11.5% from 10.9%. On the other hand, Turkey's exports to Asian countries dropped from 6% to 5%. The imports from EU member countries fell to 46.7% from 48.3% as Asian countries increased their import share to 16.3% from 14.5%. This shows that the South East Asian countries gained competitive edge against Turkey with their US Dollar peg.