According to the information compiled from the data of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM), Turkey’s exports increased by 38.3 percent in the first five months of the year compared to the same period of the previous year, from 61 billion 598 million 987 thousand dollars to 85 billion 219 million 653 thousand dollars.
In May, exports to Middle Eastern countries amounted to 1 billion 776 million 194 thousand dollars with an increase of 34 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. In the first five months of the year, the most chemicals and products, grains, pulses, oilseeds and products and steel were exported to the Middle East countries.
The share of chemicals and products, grains, pulses, oilseeds and products, and steel exports to Middle Eastern countries in the January-May period was recorded as 40 percent.
In the said period, 1 billion 474 million 531 thousand dollars of chemicals and products were exported to the Middle East countries, while 1 billion 313 million 621 thousand dollars of grain, pulses, oilseeds and products and 1 billion 180 million 113 thousand dollars of steel were exported.
Most exports were made to Iraq
The share of Middle Eastern countries in Turkey’s exports was 11.79 percent in the first five months of the year. In the said period, Turkey made the most foreign sales to Iraq among the Middle Eastern countries. In this period, exports to Iraq increased by 23 percent compared to the same period of the previous year and rose from 2 billion 586 million 769 thousand dollars to 3 billion 173 million 873 thousand dollars.
The most exports to Iraq were from Istanbul in the January-May period. In this period, the export sales of companies from Istanbul to Iraq increased by 29.8 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, from 706 million 809 thousand dollars to 917 million 501 thousand dollars.
“The Middle East is among the indispensable partners for our private sector”
Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) Turkey-Middle East and Gulf Business Councils Coordinator Chairman Ümit Kiler told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the Middle East and Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabia, have “Vision 2030” targets.
Expressing that the Middle East and Gulf countries aim to diversify their economies depending on oil and natural gas and reduce the percentage of oil and natural gas revenues in the annual budget within the scope of their “Vision 2030” targets, Kiler said, “In this context, especially food, cleaning products, medicine, medical equipment, livestock and agriculture “They have started the domestic industry move in various sectors and have made some progress. They envisage to organize a sustainable economic model by reducing the import figures of non-oil import-dependent sectors.” used the phrases.
Kiler said, “When you examine the first five products imported from Turkey by the Middle East countries, we can see that machinery, machinery equipment, electronic products and parts, iron and steel items come to the fore. On the other hand, when we focus on Turkey’s industrial production, this year it is 8.8 percent compared to last year. “We can observe that the rate of manufacturing and manufacturing machinery in this data is at a high level. This shows us once again that the Middle East is among the indispensable partners for our private sector.” made its assessment.
Noting that countries such as Qatar, Oman, Iraq, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, especially Saudi Arabia, will take steps within the framework of the 2030 vision, Kiler said, “Food, cleaning and chemicals, medicines, medical equipment, fresh vegetables in order to reduce foreign dependency in basic needs. and fruit-agriculture, livestock, digitalization, e-commerce, e-banking, etc. There are opportunities for the Turkish business world in a wide variety of sectors, etc. I recommend our Turkish private sector and our producers, who have high capabilities in the aforementioned sectors, to follow the region closely and brand ” made the statement.
