After Russia’s attempt to invade Ukraine, economic sanctions against Russia intensified with each passing day, and there was a significant increase in the transactions made in rubles in Turkey’s foreign trade.
According to the data announced by TUIK today, Turkey’s imports increased by 40.4 percent in August compared to the same month of the previous year and reached 32 billion 531 million dollars. In the January-August period, imports increased by 40.7 percent and reached 239 billion 43 million dollars.
FIRST RANK IN IMPORT
In August, Russia took the first place in Turkey’s imports. Imports from Russia amounted to 6 billion 297 million dollars. Similarly, in the January-August period, Russia took the first place in imports with 38 billion 413 million dollars.
Considering the import data in terms of currencies in the first 8 months, the US dollar took the first place with 170 billion 773 million dollars, as in previous years. This currency was followed by the Euro with 56 billion 635 million dollars and the Turkish lira with 9 billion 200 million dollars.
Currency unit | Imports (thousand $) |
US Dollar | 170 773 696 |
Euro | 56 635 488 |
Turkish lira | 9 200 565 |
British pound | 617 878 |
Japanese Yen | 501 821 |
Chinese Yuan | 492 804 |
Swiss Franc | 469 219 |
Norwegian Krone | 111 440 |
UAE Dirham | 104 441 |
Russian ruble | 69 771 |
10. PLACED
Imports with Russian Ruble, on the other hand, ranked 10th with 69 million 771 thousand dollars, as seen in the table above. Although the share of Russian Ruble in imports remained small, a significant increase was observed compared to previous years.
Import with 2021 Rubles (thousand $) | |
January | 1 863 |
February | 4 651 |
March | 5 604 |
April | 5 299 |
May | 1 769 |
June | 2 322 |
July | 1 693 |
August | 4 691 |
Total | 27 891 |
Last year, a total of 27 million 891 thousand dollars of import payments were made in rubles in the first 8 months before the war. With the latest data, imports with rubles in the first 8 months have increased by 150.1 percent in 2022 compared to 2021. In August alone, the increase was 114.2 percent compared to last year. Thus, a record was broken in imports with rubles.
Import with 2022 Rubles (thousand $) | |
January | 2 638 |
February | 1 198 |
March | 1 004 |
April | 9 105 |
May | 29 585 |
June | 6 688 |
July | 9 500 |
August | 10 052 |
Total | 69 771 |
In August, Turkey’s exports to Russia amounted to 949 million dollars. Thus, in August, Russia became Turkey’s 5th largest export market.
In August, exports in rubles broke a record with 34 million 733 thousand dollars on a monthly basis. In the first 8 months of the year, exports in rubles reached a record level with 186 million 988 thousand dollars.
Export with 2022 rubles (thousand $) | |
January | 17 245 |
February | 21 003 |
March | 11 128 |
April | 21 470 |
May | 25 168 |
June | 27 632 |
July | 28 610 |
August | 34 733 |
Total | 186 988 |
Exports in Russian Ruble increased by 30.2 percent in the first 8 months of the year compared to the same period of the previous year.
Export with 2021 rubles (thousand $) | |
January | 15 091 |
February | 19 694 |
March | 25 141 |
April | 20 508 |
May | 15 923 |
June | 15 455 |
July | 15 422 |
August | 16 309 |
Total | 143 542 |
A total of 4 billion 588 million dollars were exported to Russia in the first 8 months of the year. Exports in rubles corresponded to 4 percent of this figure.
In the January-August period of 2022, foreign trade with payments in Russian Rubles increased by 49.7 percent compared to the same period of the previous year and reached 256 million 759 thousand dollars.