Russian Federation becomes Turkey's

[Sari Galin]

The Russian Federation moved up two places in 2007 on Turkey's export customer list, becoming its fifth largest customer after Germany, Britain, Italy and France.

According to recent figures released by the foreign trade minister, Turkey sold $11.99 billion worth of goods to Germany. Britain spent $8.63 billion on goods and products made in Turkey, whereas Italians paid $7.48 billion. France was just behind them with $5.97 billion of imports from Turkish exporters. The exports from Turkey to the Russian Federation, on the other hand, amounted to $4.73 billion. Turkish exporters earned $550 million just from the sale of tomatoes, grapes and oranges to Russia.

In a statement to the Anatolia news agency yesterday Foreign Trade Minister Kürşad Tüzmen said Russia's share in Turkey's trade is set to increase even further. He noted that 24 countries spent billions to buy Turkish goods and products in 2007. These countries are Germany, Italy, France, the Russian Federation, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Romania, the US, the Netherlands, Iraq, Greece, Iran, Israel, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belgium, Azerbaijan, Denmark, Poland, China, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Kazakhstan.

Compared to 2006, the biggest increase in exports in terms of volume was seen in trade with Germany. While $2.3 billion more revenue was earned from Germany, $1.8 billion more came from Britain and $1.5 billion more from the Russian Federation in 2007 compared to the previous year.

The exports to Russia are especially important for the farmers in Mersin, Adana, Hatay, Antalya and the entire Aegean region. Furthermore, the sale of motor vehicles and its supply industry are other major items in Turkey's trade with Russia along with cement. Turkey had sold $142,000 worth of cement to Russia in 2006 but this amount jumped to $67 million last year. Turkey, on the other hand, is mainly importing natural gas from Russia through the Blue Stream pipeline.