Foreign Trade News from Turkey

Source : World Bulletin, December 16, 2013

Turkey\'s exports to the European Union (EU28) increased dramatically compared to its major partners, according to data released by the EU\'s statistical office Eurostat. In the January-September 2013 period, exports from Turkey to EU28 rose 4% and reached ?37.4 billion compared to the same period last year. EU28 imports from most major partners fell in January-September 2013 compared with January-September 2012, except for Turkey with +4% and India with +1%. The most notable decreases were imports from Japan with -15%, Brazil -14%, Switzerland -12% and Norway -11%. The pattern was mixed for EU28 exports, with the largest increases registered for exports to Switzerland with +32% and Turkey +5%. The most notable falls for exports were India with -5% whereas the US and Japan were both recorded at -3%

Republic of Turkey Ministry of Economy

Source : Washington Trade Daily, December 16, 2013

Chairman of Turkish-British Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TBCCI) Emma Edhem stated the trade between United Kingdom (UK) and Turkey will reach 15 billion USD in 2013, which would be the highest level yet, the World Desk reported. Saying the UK investment in Turkey has reached 6 billion USD, whereas Turkish investment in UK is approaching 1.6 billion USD in the last decade, Edhem told AA in an exclusive interview that the trade volume between the countries had sustained a growth rate of about 9% each year between 2003-2007.

Turkey, with 4.4 percent growth rate for 3rd quarter of 2013 fiscal year, records the second highest growth rate among the OECD member states and the fourth highest growth rate in the G-20 states. According to a report by an Ankara based think tank institution Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA), the main factors behind the growth rate of the third quarter are the positive developments in banking and public finance, the limited impact of FED declaration on easing program and the flexibility of the Turkish export market.The report also indicates that although the uncertainty in the global economy has decreased to a significant extent, still the developed economies are not recording significant growth rates. The report also notes that Turkey has been growing steadily since 2009 and has recorded a higher growth rate than all 17 Eurozone member states. China recorded a lower growth rate than expected which reflects the slowdown in the global economy, noted the report. Following China with 7.8 percent, Indonesia recorded the second highest growth among G-20 countries with a growth rate of 5.6 percent, while India came in third with a growth rate of 4.8 percent and Turkey is fourth with a growth rate of 4.4 percent.

 Source : Worldbulletin

Turkey’s inflation showed a 7.3 percent increase last month from the same month a year earlier, while the year-on-year inflation rate was 7.7 percent in October. However, some economists say it seems unlikely to reach its inflation target, which was revised by the Central Bank from 6.2 to 6.8 percent at the end of 2013. The inflation rose by 0.01 percent month-on-month in November, below expectations, according to figures revealed by the state-run statistics body TÜİK Dec. 3. But, the economists expect the Central Bank might enhance its cautious stance in tight monetary policy. “Currently the course of core and headline inflation is much higher than the target of 5 percent,” said Central Bank Governor Erdem Başçı during a news conference by the end of October. “Therefore, don’t expect an easing of monetary policy until we approach the inflation target, and even achieve it,” he added. Garanti Yatırım Chief Economist Gizem Öztok Altınsaç told Reuters that a fall in food prices and transport helped inflation figures to be below expectations, adding that they didn’t see that it reflected on transitivity of the exchange rate.  Altınsaç said they forecasted 7.5 percent inflation rate for this year and 6.7 percent for next year. “The inflation target for 2014 is 5 percent and we don’t see it as being possible to achieve. The Central Bank has a Money Policy Council meeting on Dec. 17 and we expect to maintain its tight stance. A pressure on the lira still continues that poses serious risks for inflation,” she said. ING Bank economist Muammer Kömürcüoğlu told Reuters that an upward move in core inflation in parallel with loss in Turkish Liras’ value since June ended after a fall in November inflation. The latest figures show the transitivity of exchange rate has started to weaken and it supports the expectations that say the lira’s movements would have limited effects on core inflation, he said.  Kömürcüoğlu noted that despite positive results for November’s inflation, they foresaw the Central Bank maintaining tight monetary policy until a permanent improvement was seen in the inflation outlook.  Burgan Investment Chief Economist Haluk Bürümcekçi also said they forecasted an inflation rate at 7.3 percent by the end of this year, in an interview with Reuters.  The highest monthly increase was 3.2 percent in clothing and footwear as the indices rose for health sector 0.7 percent, the TÜİK data showed. The highest annual increase was 13.5 percent in alcoholic beverages and tobacco. Education (10 percent), food and non-alcoholic beverages (9.7 percent), hotels, cafes and restaurants (9.4 percent), trasport (8.2 percent) were the other main categories that saw high annual increases.

Source:Hurriyet Daily News