Imports with Russian Ruble rose 150 percent in 8 months

Imports with the ruble doubled

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 unitImports (thousand $)
US Dollar170 773 696
Euro56 635 488
Turkish lira9 200 565
British pound617 878
Japanese Yen501 821
Chinese Yuan492 804
Swiss Franc469 219
Norwegian Krone111 440
UAE Dirham104 441
Russian ruble69 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 $)
January1 863
February4 651
March5 604
April5 299
May1 769
June2 322
July1 693
August4 691
Total27 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 $)
January2 638
February1 198
March1 004
April9 105
May29 585
June6 688
July9 500
August10 052
Total69 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 $)
January17 245
February21 003
March11 128
April21 470
May25 168
June27 632
July28 610
August34 733
Total186 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 $)
January15 091
February19 694
March25 141
April20 508
May15 923
June15 455
July15 422
August16 309
Total143 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.