Turkey’s trade deficit narrowed to $8.5 billion in April 2026 from $12.1 billion a year earlier, in line with preliminary estimates. This was the smallest trade gap since January, supported by robust export growth that significantly outpaced the increase in imports.
Exports jumped 22.3% year-on-year to $25.4 billion, with strong gains across all major sectors, led by manufacturing (22.0%). Germany remained Turkey’s largest export market, accounting for 8.3% of total exports, followed by the United States (6.3%), the United Kingdom (5.7%), Italy (5.3%), and Spain (4.1%).
Imports rose a more moderate 3.1% to $33.9 billion, driven by higher purchases of intermediate goods (up 5.6%) and capital goods (up 1.6%), which more than offset a 6.8% decline in imports of consumer goods. China held its position as Turkey’s main import partner with a 13.2% share, followed by Russia (13.0%), Germany (7.0%), the United States (5.5%), and Italy (4.0%).
Over the first four months of the year, however, the trade deficit widened to $37.1 billion from $34.6 billion in the same period of the previous year, as imports grew by 3.0%, slightly outpacing the 4.3% increase in exports.
