Despite AKP hype, foreign trade scores should worry Turks
Turkey’s exports increased and its imports decreased last year, but government critics see little reason to celebrate, pointing out the gloomy dynamics underlying the shifts in foreign trade.
The Turkish lira’s nearly 30% depreciation last year had a boosting impact on the country’s exports, while curbing its imports. Exports rose 7% from the previous year to hit a record level of more than $168 billion, while imports decreased 4.6% to some $223 billion, according to official figures released last week.
The largest exports were in the land vehicles category, which includes motor vehicles, tractors, bicycles and motorcycles. Rising 11.8% from last year, exports in this category reached some $26.8 billion. In contrast, vehicle imports dropped 20.3% to about $13.9 billion, with luxury cars leading the decline under the impact of increased foreign exchange prices.
Among the top 20 export categories, the biggest increase — 40.6% — was in iron and steel products, with the sales totaling some $11.5 billion. The rise came despite the US tariff increase on steel products from Turkey, which was widely expected to hit its exports. But evidently, Turkish exporters boosted sales to other markets, especially the European Union, and even expanded to new ones, including Latin American countries such as Chile, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Jamaica, Costa Rica and Mexico.
The lira’s slump hit the importation of not only luxury products, but also intermediate goods, which in turn curtailed the exportation of items whose production relies on intermediate goods. The most striking example is in the category of “precious and semiprecious stones, precious metals, pearls, imitation jewelry and metal money,” in which imports dropped 28% to about $12.6 billion, and exports slumped 34.1% to some $7.2 billion.
