Turkey's machinery exports saw an increase of 17.1 percent year-on-year in the first 10 months of this year, according to Machinery Exporters' Association yesterday.
Germany, the U.S. and the U.K. were the top three markets of domestic machinery exports, which hit $14 billion in the January-October period.
Exports to Turkey's biggest trade partner Germany stood at $2 billion, while they totaled over $1 billion to the U.S.
The biggest increase in the top 10 product group was seen in construction and mining machinery, agricultural and forestry machinery, pump-compressors and machine tools.
In the said period, machinery exports to European countries registered a significant increase. Exports to the Netherlands increased by 59 percent, while they increased by 34 percent, 25 percent and by 23 percent to Romania, France and the U.K., respectively, as of the end of October.
Exports to Uzbekistan and Russia also saw an increase of 53 percent and 40 percent, respectively. The most exported machinery goods groups across the sector were air conditioners and refrigeration machines ($1.92 billion), engines and components ($1.9 billion), washing and drying machines ($1.3 billion) and construction and mining machines ($1 billion).
On a monthly basis, exports in October stood at $1.65 billion, while the twelve-month figure rose by 18 percent to $17 billion. Machinery Exporters' Association Chairman Kutlu Karavelioğlu said there was a record increase in exports in October.
"Even though the rates of change have varied this year, the fact
that we have achieved an increase in exports in almost all subsectors has been a morale booster for all of us," he said.
Noting that they exported around $12 billion in the first 10 months of last year, Karavelioğlu said, "In the same period of this year, we sold an extra 250,000 tons of machines and generated an extra revenue of $2 billion from this trade. This performance is the indicator of the strength of the machinery industry. Along with the quality, the competitiveness of Turkish machines is also increasing. The continuation and increase of support provided to domestic production will contribute to the efforts of our sector to become a production center of Europe."
