Turkey exported $25.976 billion of goods in September 2026, 15.4% more than a year earlier, while imports rose 5.9% to $31.208 billion, according to the Ministry of Trade's preliminary release. The monthly goods deficit narrowed by 24.8% to $5.232 billion and exports covered 83.2% of imports. For international investors and companies, the release signals stronger merchandise activity and a better monthly balance, but it is not a current-account figure, a company earnings forecast or final customs statistics.
The monthly trade balance improved despite higher imports
Total merchandise trade reached $57.185 billion, up 10.0% from September 2025. Export growth of 15.4% outpaced the 5.9% increase in imports, reducing the monthly deficit from $6.957 billion to $5.232 billion. The export-to-import coverage ratio rose 6.8 percentage points to 83.2%. These nominal US-dollar figures describe goods crossing Turkey's customs system; they do not include tourism, transport and other services or the financing side of the balance of payments.
Energy and gold explain much of the remaining gap
Excluding energy, exports covered 100.3% of imports in September. Excluding both energy and non-monetary gold, the ratio was 97.7%. Those adjusted views show that the core non-energy goods account was close to balance, but they are analytical cuts rather than bills Turkey can ignore. Energy and gold transactions still affect foreign-currency demand, logistics and corporate costs, so the 83.2% headline ratio remains the relevant total-goods measure.
Intermediate and capital goods drove the export increase
Exports of intermediate goods rose 24.3% to $14.165 billion, while capital-goods exports increased 19.1% to $3.609 billion. Consumer-goods exports grew more modestly, by 2.2% to $7.851 billion. Manufacturing accounted for $24.168 billion, or 93.0% of all exports. The minister also reported that medium-high and high-technology exports totalled $117.6 billion in the latest 12-month period, equal to 43.7% of manufacturing exports. These broad categories suggest industrial depth, but they do not identify the margins or order books of individual companies.
Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom led demand
Germany was the largest September destination for Turkish goods at $2.045 billion, followed by the United States at $1.919 billion and the United Kingdom at $1.430 billion. China led import origins at $5.267 billion, ahead of Germany at $2.248 billion and the United States at $1.776 billion. The EU-27 bought $10.498 billion of Turkish goods and supplied $9.129 billion. This concentration matters for exposure analysis, but a national ranking cannot replace product-code, customer, currency and sanctions checks for a particular transaction.
The nine-month and 12-month totals are less benign
From January through September, exports increased 5.2% to $210.973 billion and imports rose 5.4% to $281.998 billion, leaving a $71.025 billion goods deficit. On a rolling 12-month basis, exports reached $283.727 billion, imports $379.761 billion and the deficit $96.034 billion. The strong September improvement therefore sits inside a longer period that still carries a sizeable merchandise shortfall. Investors should read the monthly acceleration together with energy prices, the lira, financing conditions and final customs detail rather than treating one record month as a structural surplus.
The numbers are preliminary and will be revised
The Ministry of Trade labels the September release as provisional administrative-record data. Turkey's final detailed foreign-trade statistics are published by TÜİK at the end of the following month and can differ after customs declarations are completed or revised. Companies can use the early release to update demand and cash-flow scenarios, but contracts, valuations and forecasts should preserve a revision margin and be checked against the final series.
Republic of Turkey Ministry of Trade — September 2026 foreign-trade data bulletin →
Republic of Turkey Ministry of Trade — minister's September trade briefing, 2 October 2026 →