Foreign trade deficit reached $8.88 billion in August

According to provisional data from the Ministry of Commerce, the foreign trade deficit was $8.88 billion in August. The Ministry of Commerce announced the foreign trade data for August. In August 2023, compared to the same month of the previous year; exports increased by 1.6 percent to $21 billion 619 million, while imports decreased by 6.3 percent to $30 billion 494 million. Thus, the foreign trade deficit decreased by 21.2 percent in August compared to the same month of the previous year, falling to $8 billion 875 million. In the January-August period, exports decreased by 0.4 percent to $164 billion 907 million, while imports increased by 3.5 percent to $247 billion 321 million. In the first 8 months of the year, the foreign trade deficit increased by 12.1 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching $82 billion 414 million. In the January-August period of 2023 compared to the same period of the previous year, motor land vehicles exports increased by 19.4 percent to 19 billion 890 million dollars; boiler and machinery exports increased by 16.1 percent to 16 billion 571 million dollars; electrical machinery and appliance exports increased by 16.9 percent to 9 billion 983 million dollars. Unwrought gold imports were 13.5 billion dollars In August 2023, imports decreased by 6.3 percent to 30 billion 494 million dollars. In the January-August period, total imports increased by 3.5 percent compared to the same period of the previous year to 247 billion 321 million dollars. The periodic increase in imports is largely due to unprocessed gold imports. In fact, unprocessed gold imports increased by 13.5 billion dollars (145.9 percent increase) during this period, reaching a total of 22 billion 776 million dollars in the first 8 months. In this context, imports excluding gold decreased by 2.3 percent in the January-August period, reaching 224 billion 545 million dollars. The most exports were to Germany. The countries we exported the most to in August were; Germany (1 billion 783 million dollars), the USA (1 billion 322 million dollars) and Iraq (1 billion 91 million dollars), respectively. The share of the top 10 countries with the largest share in exports in total exports was 46.3 percent. The countries we imported the most from in August were; China (3 billion 828 million dollars), the Russian Federation (3 billion 420 million dollars) and Germany (2 billion 556 million dollars), respectively. The share of the top 10 countries with the largest share in imports in total imports was 60.8 percent. Manufacturing ranked first In August, the share of exports by sector was; Manufacturing Industry 94.7 percent (20 billion 470 million dollars), Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector 3.4 percent (726 million dollars), Mining and Quarrying sector 1.4 percent (307 million dollars). The share of imports by sector in August was; Manufacturing Industry 84.0 percent (25 billion 609 million dollars), Mining and Quarrying sector 10.7 percent (3 billion 262 million dollars), Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector 2.8 percent (864 million dollars).