Turkey’s trade deficit increased in February as imports rose faster than exports, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) published on Tuesday.
Exports increased 1.5 percent from a year earlier to $21.05 billion, while imports rose 5.5 percent to $30.08 billion.
The monthly trade deficit climbed 15.9 percent to $9.23 billion, and the export-to-import coverage ratio fell to 70.0 percent from 72.7 percent in February 2025.
In the first two months of 2026, exports fell 1.3 percent year-on-year to $41.36 billion, while imports rose 2.8 percent to $58.77 billion. That pushed the trade deficit up 13.8 percent to $17.4 billion, with the coverage ratio falling to 70.4 percent.
Excluding energy products and non-monetary gold, exports rose 4.4 percent to $19.9 billion in February and imports increased 12.8 percent to $22.9 billion. The deficit in that category stood at $2.993 billion, while total trade volume reached $42.86 billion, up 8.7 percent from a year earlier. The export-to-import coverage ratio in that measure was 86.9 percent.
Manufacturing accounted for 93.8 percent of exports in February, while agriculture, forestry and fishing made up 4.0 percent and mining and quarrying 1.5 percent. On the import side, intermediate goods accounted for 72.2 percent of the total, showing Turkey’s continued reliance on imported inputs.
Germany was Turkey’s top export market in February at $1.85 billion, followed by the United Kingdom at $1.246 billion, the United States at $1.24 billion, Italy at $1.06 billion and Iraq at $995 million. China was the leading source of imports at $4.12 billion, followed by Russia at $3.86 billion, Germany at $2.211 billion, Switzerland at $1.67 billion and the United States at $1.34 billion.
Seasonally and calendar adjusted data showed exports rose 1.2 percent month-on-month in February, while imports increased 1.1 percent. High-technology products accounted for 3.2 percent of manufacturing exports, while their share in manufacturing imports stood at 11.2 percent.