Foreign trade data for September was announced at the meeting held at TİM Foreign Trade Complex with the participation of Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat and President of the Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TİM) Mustafa Gültepe.
Speaking at the meeting, Bolat pointed out that the global economy is going through difficult times and said that the expectations regarding global trade and growth figures are not good.
Reminding that Türkiye grew by 2.5 percent in the first half of the year, Bolat explained that positive growth has continued uninterrupted for the last 16 years, and that growth has continued for 24 quarters after Covid-19 was overcome.
Stating that the Gross National Product of 1 trillion 706 billion dollars was reached as of the end of June, Bolat said, "The pleasing thing is that net exports of goods and services made a positive contribution to growth. 0.6 points of the 2.3 percent growth in the second quarter came from net exports of goods and services. In the first half of the year, industry, services and agriculture sectors made a positive contribution in terms of production. In terms of expenditures, private consumption, net exports and investments made a positive contribution to the increase in national income." he said.
Stating that the unemployment rate was 7.8 percent in August and has been in single digits for 40 months, Bolat touched upon the energy costs of the ongoing war in the Gulf.
"THE SECOND HIGHEST MONTHLY FIGURE IN THE HISTORY OF OUR REPUBLIC"
Minister Bolat said that the export figures for September were pleasing.
"(Last month) The highest export record for September was broken. We managed to export 26 billion dollars with an increase of 15.4 percent on an annual basis." Minister Bolat continued his words as follows:
"September goods exports of 26 billion dollars is the second highest monthly figure in our 103-year history of the Republic. First, it was 26 billion 300 million dollars in December 2025, meaning we missed the Republic record of 300 million dollars. Exports for the January-September period also increased by 5.2 percent, reaching 211 billion dollars and breaking a record. Our 2026 Medium Term Program (MTP) target was 282 billion dollars. In September "Our annualized total goods export figure increased to 283.7 billion dollars. This figure is a record for annual goods exports. We exceeded the MTP target of 282 billion dollars with an increase of 14.1 billion dollars (in the last 12 months) with only 3 months left in the year."
"TOTAL EXPORTS OF GOODS AND SERVICES INCREASED TO 409.1 BILLION DOLLARS"
Minister of Commerce Bolat said that as of September, it was calculated that 125.4 billion dollars were reached in annualized services exports for the last 12 months.
"This was the highest figure in services exports to date." Making his evaluation, Bolat stated the following:
"The total of both, exports of goods and services, has increased to 409.1 billion dollars as of the last year. Our esteemed President gave us a target of 410 billion dollars for the end of the year. There is only a figure of 900 million dollars left to reach that target. Hopefully, we will exceed it. In the face of these developments, we expect the current account to have a surplus in August and September."
Bolat noted that monthly goods exports increased in 30 of the last 41 months, broke a record in 23 of them, increased in 6 of the 9 months of this year, and reached a record in 5 of them, and said that double-digit increases were experienced in April, June and September.
Stating that there was no effect of parity or calendar on the increase in September, Bolat said, "There was undoubtedly a very significant increase of 15.4 percent in September." he said.
Stating that they reached the highest figure of all time with 117.6 billion dollars in medium and high technology product exports, Bolat said, "The share in our total exports increased to 43.7 percent. An additional increase of 5.6 billion dollars was achieved compared to last year." he said.
"WE REACHED 83.2 PERCENT IN SEPTEMBER IN THE RATIO OF EXPORTS COVERING IMPORTS"
Minister Bolat stated that exports increased in 19 of 26 sectors in September and in 18 sectors in the January-September period, and said, "As of September, record figures were reached in 23 chapters in 5 regions, 46 countries, in annualized goods exports." shared his knowledge.
Explaining that the foreign trade deficit, which was 28.5 billion dollars in the first quarter, decreased to 24.5 billion dollars in the second and 17.5 billion dollars in the third, Bolat made the following evaluations:
"While the export-import coverage ratio was 69 percent in the first quarter, it was 74.5 percent in the second quarter and 80.8 percent in the third quarter. Records continue in monthly goods exports. The year-end target in annualized goods exports has been exceeded. We broke the highest goods export record in our history there, too. We reached 83.2 percent in September in the export-import coverage ratio. We reached 74.8 percent in January-September and are around 75 percent."
