Prices drop as exports fly!

(SABAH)
With the lira in a currently competitive position due to the monetary policy implemented by the Central Bank, exporters are smiling. With a 1.6% drop in export prices, the amount of sales has increased by 14.4%. The high currency has also resulted in a drop in imports.
The new monetary policy which has brought the Turkish Lira up to competitive levels has worked to the advantage of exporters. Exporters knocked down prices and have begun selling more products. Meanwhile, with the high exchange rate, there has been a drop in quantity of imports. According to figures released by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK), prices dropped by approximately 1.6 percent in the first quarter compared to figures from the same period the year prior. Quantity-wise there was a 14.4 percent increase. Despite the 1.5 percent increase in price of imports, there was a drop in quantity. Compared to last year, the quantity of imports decreased by 2.1 percent in the first three months of the year.
AN INCREASE IN THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY
The fishing industry saw the most significant price decrease in exports in the first three months of the year. According to the index, the fishing industry dropped by 4.7 percent, mining and quarrying dropped by 1.3 and the manufacturing industry saw a drop of 1.6 percent in import figures from the first three months of the year. Agriculture and forestry on the other hand, increased by 2.1 percent. It is this drop in prices that resulted in increasing the quantity of exports. The highest increase in sales was seen in the manufacturing industry. The amount of exports in the manufacturing sector soared to 15.3 percent. The fishing industry saw a 0.8 percent increase, while the mining and quarrying industry experienced a 4.6 percent increase. Meanwhile, agriculture and forestry saw a 3.5 percent decrease in export quantity.
DECREASED IMPORTS IN ARICULTURE
The highest drop in import quantity took place in the agriculture and forestry sector. According to the import quantity index, agriculture and forestry dropped by 19.4 percent and the manufacturing industry dropped by 4.3 percent. Meanwhile, imports in the mining and quarrying industry increased by 7.2 percent. As for the imports unit value index, figures compared to the same period last year showed a decrease by 11.3 percent in agriculture and forestry and by 1.2 percent in the manufacturing industry, while mining increased by 19 percent.
FOREIGN SALES SOAR IN MARCH
Export prices in March regressed by 3.3 percent compared to figures from the same period the year prior, while the quantity of exports saw an increase by 16 percent. Meanwhile the import unit index increased by 0.1 percent, the quantity index decreased by five percent. The deseasonalized export quantity index increased by 16 percent, while the import quantity index dropped by 3.1 percent.
ONE KILO OF EXPORTS EQUALS 1.46 DOLLARS
Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan announced that 90 million tons of exports were conducted last year, with each kilo on average coming to 1.46 dollars in value. Çağlayan went on to state, "In Germany, this figure is 4.1 dollars, in Japan it is 3.5 dollars. If we had brand and advanced technology sales, our exports would reach 350 billion dollars."