Turkey Mıssed 2014 Exports Target

Turkey missed 2014 exports target, due to geopolitical risks, lira depreciation and slower economic recovery in the European Union, the largest market of the country.

Turkey's exports rose by 1.1 percent in December to 13.14 billion dollars, according to the data released by Turkish Exporters Assembly (TEA), on Thursday. With the December data, annual exports rose by 4.0 percent to 157.6 billion dollars in 2014, 8.9 billion dollars less than the Medium Term Programme target at 166.5 billion dollars.

Automotive was the leading sector with 22.27 billion dollars of exports in 2014, followed by ready wear and textiles with 18.7 billion dollars and chemical sector with 17.8 billion dollars of exports, in the same year. Turkey's 5 largest export markets were Germany, Iraq, United Kingdom, Italy and France in 2014, respectively.

Mehmet Buyukeksi, Head of TEA said, Turkey was able to increase 2014 exports by 4.0 percent, despite the gepolitical risks, pushing the total exports by 4.0 points down. "If the markets were stable, we would have an increase at around 8 - 9 percent in 2014 at exports" he added.

"We have to make use of all opportunities and create new ones in 2015 to meet the 173-billion dollars target took place in the Medium Term Programme launcehed by the government recently. We need to raise the annual exports increase rate to over 10 percent" he said. - Istanbul