Minister Bolat upbeat on exports despite global price pressures

Exports rose to 24.8 billion dollars in May, breaking the monthly goods export record in the history of the Republic.

Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat announced the foreign trade figures for May at the press conference he held with Turkish Exporters Assembly (T?M) Chairman Mustafa Gültepe at the Ministry.

Bolat began his speech by evaluating the latest data on the economy and said that the Turkish economy achieved a growth rate of 2 per cent in the first quarter of 2025.

Bolat underlined that this was a modest figure compared to the 5.3 percent growth rate, which was the average of the last 22 years, and said, "However, considering the process of reducing inflation with anti-inflationary policies and the severe winter and cold conditions experienced in the first quarter, protectionist tendencies in world trade, and trade wars, it is still a figure that we are satisfied with."

Bolat stated that May went down in history in terms of exports, that the monthly goods record in the history of the Republic was broken, and that the second record was the monthly export record of 102 years, that is, "1224 months".

Drawing attention to the record in May, Bolat said, "As of May, we have broken our fourth record and reached a record in the total export figures of the last year."

Sharing the export figures for May, Minister Bolat said, "In May 2025, our exports exceeded 24 billion 800 million dollars. This figure represents a 2.7 percent increase. Last year's May was the last record. There was also a historical record of 24 billion 182 million dollars there. Again, in May, we broke the monthly export and May record ."

Bolat underlined that a net export increase of approximately 4 billion dollars was achieved compared to April, and said, "There was a decline in demand in the Middle East and African countries, especially in the European Union (EU). In the US, the US market has also become difficult as trade restrictions have been increased, and in these markets I have mentioned, there is intense price pressure and price reductions from the Far East countries. This success has been achieved despite tough competition conditions."

Referring to the positive and negative effects affecting exports, Bolat said that exports increased in 4 of the first 5 months of this year. He stated that exports were down by 314 million dollars in February alone, and that the reason for this was that February, which was 29 days last year, was 28 days this year.

Bolat stated that when looked at by sector, there was an increase of $846 million in motor land vehicles, $500 million in semi-precious stones, $296 million in electrical machinery devices, $278 million in boilers and machinery, and $233 million in ships, and shared the following information:

"Our total exports increased by 3.5 per cent in the January-May period, reaching 111 billion dollars. The same figure was 107.2 billion dollars in the first 5 months of last year. We achieved a net increase of 3.7 billion dollars in goods exports. During the last two years of our term in office, we achieved an increase in our monthly exports in 17 out of 24 months, and achieved the highest monthly export figures in history in 14 out of 24 months. As of May, our annualised goods exports in the last 12 months rose to 265.5 billion dollars, the highest level in the history of our Republic. There has been a net increase of 5 billion dollars in the last year."

Bolat, who also said that May was a successful month in terms of imports, said that imports increased by only 2.1 per cent compared to the same month last year, reaching 31.3 billion dollars. Bolat, who stated that there was a slowdown in imports, also reported a pleasing picture in the foreign trade deficit.

Bolat pointed out that the foreign trade deficit remained unchanged compared to last year and was $6.5 billion, and drew attention to the fact that the foreign trade deficit, which was $12.1 billion in April, decreased by more than 40 per cent. Bolat emphasised that the balances were restored in May and stated that the export-import coverage ratio was 79.3 per cent in May.

Stating that imports increased by 5.7 per cent in the 5-month period and amounted to 152 billion dollars, Bolat noted the following:

"A foreign trade deficit of 41 billion dollars was realised in the first 5 months. This shows that the balance in foreign trade continues in a controlled manner. The export-import coverage ratio was 73 per cent. This year, our export growth has been going well since January, and an acceleration started from March. We can achieve very serious increases, especially in the third and fourth weeks of each month."

Minister Bolat said that they will continue to progress at the pace achieved in exports and that they will work with all their might as the government, the Ministry and the exporters' family to close 2025 with a reasonable foreign trade deficit.