Türkiye's August Exports Amounted to 21.8 Billion Dollars
In the ranking of top exporting sectors, automotive maintained its leading position with 2.7 billion dollars, followed by chemicals with 2.6 billion dollars, while ready-to-wear and apparel ranked third with 1 billion 526 million dollars.
TİM Chairman Mustafa Gültepe: Policies prioritizing production and exports must be swiftly implemented. We must accurately interpret and evaluate the fact that 15 out of 26 sectors posted negative results in August, and that monthly exports declined despite the 505-million-dollar contribution from parity.
Türkiye's exports in August totaled 21.8 billion dollars. Exports for the January-August period reached 178.1 billion dollars, while exports for the last 12 months amounted to 269.2 billion dollars.
The August export figures were announced in Sakarya by Minister of Trade Prof. Dr. Ömer Bolat and Türkiye Exporters Assembly (TİM) Chairman Mustafa Gültepe.
TİM Chairman Mustafa Gültepe recalled that, bolstered by the contributions of the automotive and chemical sectors as well as parity, they achieved an 11 percent export growth in July. However, he noted that they could not reach the desired export volume in August, continuing as follows:
“According to the General Trade System (GTS) records, we concluded August with exports totaling 21.8 billion dollars. Compared to the same month last year, we are down by 0.9 percent. In the January-August period, our eight-month exports reached 178.1 billion dollars, while our exports for the last 12 months rose to 269.2 billion dollars. Our eight-month exports are up by 4.3 percent, and our annualized exports by 2.8 percent. We estimate that service exports in August will approximate 13.4 billion dollars. From a sectoral perspective, automotive sustained its leadership with 2.7 billion dollars, followed by chemicals with 2.6 billion dollars, ready-to-wear with 1 billion 526 million dollars, electrical and electronics with 1 billion 492 million dollars, and steel with 1 billion 386 million dollars. While 11 sectors increased their exports, 15 sectors registered negative growth. The top five exporting provinces were Istanbul, Kocaeli, Ankara, Bursa, and Izmir. In August, 1,014 companies exported for the first time. Last month, parity contributed 505 million dollars to our exports. Our leading export destinations were Germany, the USA, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Iraq. We recorded increases above 50 percent in 51 countries and above 10 percent in 89 countries. Overall, we increased our exports to 116 countries.”
“Sustainable economic growth can only be achieved through production and exports”
Assessing current developments in his speech, Mustafa Gültepe stated that the 4.8 percent growth of the Turkish economy in the second quarter of 2025 is an encouraging development. Noting that domestic demand was prominent among the components of growth, Gültepe continued as follows:
“While household expenditures and investments made robust contributions to growth, the role of exports remained limited. This indicates that the competitiveness challenges we face have dampened export momentum. Yet, we emphasize at every opportunity that sustainable and healthy growth can only be realized through production and exports. Nonetheless, the positive trend in growth remains promising. We believe that, in the forthcoming period, with measures to reposition exports as the locomotive of growth, we shall embark on a balanced and sustainable growth trajectory. As the umbrella organization representing over 150,000 exporters, we are resolutely committed to this objective, for our medium and long-term targets necessitate double-digit annual increases in exports.”
“Competitiveness issues continue to impede our momentum”
Stating that export growth over the past two years has remained limited, and that for the first eight months of this year it stands at merely 4.3 percent, Gültepe concluded as follows:
“We certainly do not consider this performance sufficient. We are fully aware of our potential to achieve far more. However, issues related to competitiveness continue to slow our progress. We all desire a reduction in inflation, ideally to single digits, but the industrial sector must not be overlooked. For two years, industrialists have operated with interest rates of 45-50 percent to reach the present day. During this process, weakened competitiveness has led to market losses, closures, a surge in concordat declarations, and employment losses. We no longer have time to lose. Policies prioritizing production and exports must be implemented without delay; otherwise, the losses will only intensify. We must properly interpret the fact that, in August, 15 out of 26 sectors posted negative export results and that, despite a 505-million-dollar parity contribution, monthly exports declined. Nevertheless, we remain motivated. We are continuing our trade delegations without interruption. In August, we conducted trade missions to Australia and Nigeria. Today, a delegation of ours is holding meetings in Mexico. Within this month, we will also organize delegations to Kuwait, Germany, and the Philippines. I reiterate my invitation to all our companies to participate in these delegations.”