Türkiye’s exports surged last month to post the highest-ever October figure, while imports were up only moderately, resulting in a narrowing trade deficit, a top official announced on Tuesday.

Outbound shipments from the country rose 8.1% year-over-year to nearly $25.9 billion (TL 1.29 trillion), Trade Minister Ömer Bolat told the news conference, announcing the preliminary foreign trade data for the month.

“The highest October export record was broken last month; our goods exports rose 8.1% year-over-year to reach $25.9 billion,” Bolat said.

“This marks the third-highest monthly export volume in the 103-year history of our republic. A second significant achievement is the record for the January-October period, in which (exports) rose by 5.5% to $236.8 billion,” he added.

Annualized goods exports also climbed by $15.6 billion compared with October 2025 to reach $285.6 billion, surpassing the government’s target of $282 billion, the minister noted.

“As of the end of October, total annualized goods and services exports rose to $413 billion,” Bolat also said, adding that the government exceeded its $410 billion target set at the beginning of the year as of October.

Trade deficit down 11.4%

Imports, meanwhile, increased 3.4% on an annual basis in October to $32.58 billion, according to the Trade Ministry’s monthly foreign trade bulletin released later on Tuesday.

Consequently, the foreign trade deficit narrowed by 11.4% from October 2025 to $6.7 billion, down from $7.56 billion a year earlier.

The export-to-import coverage ratio rose by 3.4 percentage points to 79.4% in October, while the ratio excluding energy stood at 100% and excluding both energy and gold reached 101.7%.

In the first 10 months of 2026, exports grew 5.5% year-on-year to $236.84 billion, while imports rose 5.1% to $314.5 billion, resulting in a trade gap of $77.67 billion.

Germany remained Türkiye’s top export destination in October with $2.07 billion, followed by the U.S. with $1.86 billion and the U.K. with $1.38 billion.

The top 10 export partners accounted for 45.3% of total goods shipments during the month.

On the import side, China ranked first with $4.41 billion in October, followed by Germany with $2.22 billion and the U.S. with $1.77 billion.

By country groups, the EU was the largest export market, receiving $10.4 billion in Turkish goods, followed by Near and Middle Eastern countries at $4.25 billion and other European nations at $3.74 billion.

Asian countries formed the largest source of imports at $9.77 billion, followed by the EU at $9.39 billion.

By broad economic categories, intermediate goods made up 50.4% of total exports at $13.04 billion, followed by consumer goods at $8.4 billion and capital goods at $3.85 billion.

Intermediate goods also led imports with a 71.7% share at $23.36 billion, followed by consumer goods at $4.65 billion and capital goods at $4.39 billion.

Manufacturing industry products constituted 93.3% of total exports in October, valued at $24.15 billion, while agriculture, forestry and fishing accounted for 3.2% and mining represented 2.5%.

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