Foreign trade deficit decreased 32% y/y to $4.97bn in April, after March foreign deficit figures indicated the first increase of 18% y/y, data of the statistics office TUIK showed on May 29. The market had expected a foreign trade deficit of $4.77bn. Turkey’s foreign trade shortfall fell by 37% y/y in January and it dropped 9.5% y/y in February.

Exports in April rose by a slight 0.2% y/y to $13.4bn while the pace of decline in imports accelerated again to 11.1% y/y from 6.1% y/y in the previous month and the 7.1% y/y decline in February. Imports amounted to $18.4bn in April with consumer goods and capital goods imports rising 1.8% y/y and 6.6% y/y, respectively, and intermediate goods imports falling 17.6% y/y.

On a seasonally and calendar adjusted basis, exports rose 5.3% m/m and imports declined 0.3% m/m in April.

Exports to the EU fell by 10.4% y/y to $5.28bn in April. Shipments of goods to the Middle East, which accounted for 22.4% in total export revenues, were down 3.1% y/y while exports to North America (4.4% share in total exports) rose by 3.6% y/y. Exports to Africa (9.2% share in total) fell by 2% y/y in the month.

Data from TUIK also showed that Switzerland became the largest market for Turkish exporters in April, representing a 9.2% share and 1,579% m/m rise while Turkey’s exports to Germany, the second largest market, dropped 9.2% y/y.

Turkey paid $3.03bn for energy imports in April, representing a 32% y/y decline while the energy import bill totaled $13.9bn in the first four months of 2015, pointing to a 24.4% decline from a year ago. Precious metals exports (mostly gold) rose by 362% y/y to $1.77bn.

In January-April, Turkey’s foreign trade deficit shrank 18% y/y to $20.2bn. Exports fell by 5.7% y/y to $50.5bn and imports declined by 11.1% y/y to $18.4bn in the first four months of the year. The government foresees a foreign trade deficit of $85bn for 2015. It expects exports and imports to be $173bn and $258bn this year. Turkey’s foreign trade deficit fell 15.3% last year to $84.6bn.