Turkey's exports fall 25% in December due to economic crisis

ANKARA, Jan. 3 (Chinese media) -- Turkey's exports in

December shrunk 25 percent compared with the same period of 2007 due to the

decline in international demand caused by the global economic crisis, local

newspaper Today's Zaman reported on Saturday.

"The number of Turkish exports in 2008 was 127.5

billion U.S. dollars, with 7.1 billion dollars in December alone," said the

report, citing figures published by the Turkish Exporters Assembly here in

Ankara.

According to the report, the exports of agricultural

products saw a moderate rise in December. Exporters of agricultural products

managed to increase their earnings by 4.6 percent and sold goods worth 1.2

billion dollars to external markets.

However, the industrial sector, which is responsible

for 81.5 percent of total exports, only registered 5.8 billion dollars in

revenue from sales abroad.

"This number is a 28.95 percent drop compared to

exports in the same category in December 2007," it said.

Meanwhile, the mining industry also suffered a 28

percent loss in their exports, earning only 155 million dollars in December.

In 2008, the largest share of exports revenue came

from trade with Germany, said the report, adding that it was followed by

Britain, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, France, Spain, the United

States, Romania and Iraq.

Although the global economic crisis are becoming

increasingly severe as they spread rapidly to non-financial sectors and cause a

slump in demand, the initial targets were successfully surpassed with 131.5

billion dollars in exports, said the report, quoting Foreign Trade Minister

Kursad Tuzmen.

The global crisis has shown its impact on exports, he

said, claiming that "if the crisis had not erupted, our exports would probably

be 136 billion dollars."

The minister also foresaw a major decline in

international trade in 2009 with an exports target of 109 billion dollars,

largely because of falling demand in foreign markets amid the global crisis.

He also predicted that Turkish exports would recover

in 2010, based on the positive developments in global economic

conditions.