Turkey’s automotive exports have risen 17% so far this year to reach a value of $13.9 billion, fresh figures from the Uludağ Automotive Industry Exporters' Association (OİB) have shown.
In May – the country’s 28th month of continuous automotive export growth – automotive exports were worth $2.8 billion, up 8% on May 2017 and representing 20% of total exports for the month.
The components sector increased its business during the month to $1 billion, a rise of 24%. Car exports decreased by 4% to $1.05 billion. Exports of light commercial vehicles went up by 9% to $471m, while those of buses, minibuses and midi-buses decreased by 4% to $149m.
Germany remained Turkey’s largest importer of parts, with sales up 23%. It was followed by France (+27%), Romania (+47%), the US (+49%) and Russia (+56%).
In terms of cars, the largest market was France, to which exports rose by 23% in May, followed by the UK (+23%) and the Netherlands (+122%). However, car exports to Germany decreased by 29%.
Exports of light commercial vehicles to the UK, which is Turkey’s main importer in this sector, declined by 7% in May. Nevertheless, sales rose in other markets including Italy (+37%), France (+23%) and Germany (+26%).
Exports of buses, minibuses and midi-buses declined by 23% to Germany, usually Turkey’s best market in this sector, while French imports declined by 26%. Sales in this sector rose to Italy by 68%, but fell to the UK (-35%) and to Spain (-184%).
Automotive exports to Germany overall went up 5% to $423m, leaving it as Turkey’s biggest market. Second-placed Italy posted growth of 5% to $310m while third-placed France grew by 16% to $308m.
Exports to the European Union, the largest combined market for the Turkish automotive sector, went up 10% overall to $2.2 billion, taking 80% of export output.
