Mustafa Gültepe, President of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), increased the exports of 56 provinces in September compared to the same period last year and said, "The 3 countries we exported the most to were Germany, the USA and the United Kingdom." he said.
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 TİM President Mustafa Gültepe.
Speaking at the meeting, Gültepe reminded that the principles of practice that they were eagerly awaiting for foreign exchange conversion support came into force on October 1, and said that the new regulation targeting a wider exporter network fell short of meeting expectations.
Gültepe expressed his concerns about the issue, arguing that the system has become more complex and bureaucracy has increased.
Reminding that they say that they need to grow exports by double digits at every opportunity, Gültepe continued his words as follows:
"September was such a month. We closed the last month with a 15.4 percent increase and exported 26 billion dollars. We reached both the highest September export and the second highest monthly export value we have ever achieved. We are at the 211 billion dollar limit in 9-month exports. We approached 284 billion dollars in the 12-month period. (Based on the last 12 months) We have already exceeded the year-end target. We have already exceeded the year-end target. Both in 9-month exports and in the annual cycle. "We're at 5.2 plus."
"While 19 of our sectors increased their exports in September, 7 of our sectors decreased."
Referring to the distribution of exports by sectors, Mustafa Gültepe gave the following information:
"While 19 of our sectors increased their exports in September, 7 of our sectors decreased. When we look at the first 5 sectors, the automotive sector achieved exports of 3.9 billion dollars, chemicals 3.1 billion, electrical-electronics 2.1 billion dollars, the jewelry sector 1 billion 512 million dollars, and our steel sector 1 billion 486 million dollars. Our first 3 sectors that increased their exports the most in September were jewellery, chemistry and electrical-electronics. The total export increase in these 3 sectors "It went up to 2.2 billion dollars."
Noting that the increase in value in exports is very important, Gültepe said, "We should be able to increase the amount of products we export as well as the value. We experienced a 0.6 percent decrease in quantity, despite the 15.4 percent export increase in September. While the January-September period increased by 5.2 percent in value, the quantity decreased by 2 percent. We believe that the quantity must increase as well as the value. If both increase together, the production volume in Türkiye will also increase." he said.
"Last month, 56 of our provinces increased their exports"
Regarding the exports made by the provinces, TİM President Gültepe said, "Last month, 56 of our provinces increased their exports. The three countries we exported the most to were Germany, the USA and the United Kingdom. In the countries to which we exported over 1 billion dollars, we recorded an increase of 599 percent to Switzerland, 42.5 percent to the USA, and 14.5 percent to Spain. In September, 1015 of our companies exported for the first time. The contribution of these companies to our exports was approximately 141 million dollars." he said.
Stating that parity reduced exports by 235 million dollars in September, Gültepe explained that the unit export price per kilogram was at the level of 1.74 dollars.
Gültepe noted that exporters showed a good performance in September despite the difficulties related to competitiveness, and said, "We are now in the last quarter of the last year. Our 2026 target is 282 billion dollars. We need to export 71 billion dollars in 3 months to reach the target. I believe we will do more. We are also constantly on the field in new markets." he said.
Stating that TİM and exporters' associations carried out 19 trade delegations, 6 purchasing delegations, 40 fair participations and 1 International Competitiveness Development (UR-GE) activity last month, Gültepe said that they will be on the field with 22 trade delegations this month.
Gültepe added that Türkiye Innovation Week 2026 (TIW-Türkiye Innovation Week) will be held at the Haliç Congress Center on 15-17 October.
