ECONOMY

Turk exports hit record high

ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Turkish exports climbed 26 percent year-on-year to $9.16 billion in May, a record high, the Turkish Exporters Association (TIM) said yesterday. For the January-May period, it said exports amounted to $40.47 billion, up 26 percent year-on-year and on track for a government target for the year of $100 billion. The Turkish Exporters Association figures come almost a month ahead of official figures, which they tend to match. For April it reported exports of $8.21 billion – up 28 percent year-on-year. That was confirmed by the Turkish Statistics Institute on Thursday with an official figure of $8.27 billion. The previous record was March 2007 when TIM said exports reached $8.94 billion. The Turkish Statistics Institute said on Thursday the April trade deficit narrowed 11.5 percent year-on-year to $4.55 billion, as export growth, at 28.3 percent, more than doubled import growth of 10.6 percent. The trade deficit is a major component of the current account gap, which fast-growing Turkey is trying to rein in. The current account shows one of the largest deficits in emerging markets, proportionally, which makes Turkish assets more vulnerable to shifts in investor mood. Gold imports double Turkey’s gold imports doubled in May from the previous month, boosted by lower bullion prices, but imports fell year-on-year as jewelry demand remained weak compared with last year. Gold imports by Turkey, one of the world’s top consumers of the metal, rose to 24.6 tons in May from 12.2 tons in April. But imports slipped by 26.5 percent from May 2006. «Gold prices have fallen to around $650 an ounce from $680 in early May and this triggered buying,» dealer Alper Kalyoncu at Garanti Bankasi said. The average gold price, as calculated by the Istanbul Gold Exchange, fell to $666.20 in May from $677.33 in April. But despite the rise in gold jewelry exports, jewelers say that domestic jewelry demand remained weak when compared with last year, which weighed on imports in the first months of 2007. Overall gold imports in the first five months of the year were down by 12 percent at 74 tons. «The jewelry sector remains weak and I think that is the reason overall figures remain below last year’s levels,» Kalyoncu said.

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