Turkish exports rise 4.4% in 2025, trade deficit widens to $92 billion

Turkey's exports increased by 4.4% in 2025, reaching $273.36 billion, while imports rose by 6.2% to $365.37 billion, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) on Friday. The trade deficit for the year widened by 11.9% to $92 billion. Manufacturing products accounted for 94.3% of total exports, followed by agriculture, forestry, and fishing at 3.5%, and mining and quarrying at 1.6%.

Export Composition and Key Partners

Within manufacturing, medium-high technology products represented 39.6% of exports, while high-tech products accounted for 3.8%. Germany remained Turkey's top export destination with $22.16 billion, followed by the United Kingdom at $16.77 billion and the United States at $16.33 billion. On the import side, China led with $49.57 billion, followed by Russia at $42.37 billion and Germany at $30.11 billion.

December Performance and Policy Outlook

In December alone, exports grew 12.7% year-on-year to $26.37 billion, while imports increased 10.7% to $35.67 billion, resulting in a monthly trade deficit of $9.3 billion. Excluding energy and non-monetary gold, the December deficit was $2.7 billion. Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek noted that export performance supports progress toward a sustainable current account balance. He attributed part of the import increase to rising gold prices and affirmed the government's commitment to supporting high value-added production and renewable energy investments to structurally improve the current account.