Turkey’s oil bill down $12.9 billion in 10 months owing to falling prices

In the first 10 months of last year, Turkey spent $25.09 billion on oil purchases. This figure, however, decreased by 51.3 percent to $12.21 billion in the same period of 2009.

According to the foreign trade numbers released by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) on Friday, Turkey’s bill for its natural gas purchases amounted to $9.3 billion in the same period. This marks a 36.3 percent decline compared to the first 10 months of last year during which it spent $14.5 billion.

Imports of mine ores and scrap metals were down 53.6 percent from $9.3 billion to $4.3 billion. Iron and steel imports were also sharply down in the first 10 months this year from $13.78 billion to $6.14 billion, marking a decline of 55.4 percent. The total amount spent for motor vehicle imports decreased by 37 percent to $6.78 billion. The TurkStat figures further showed that imports of electrical equipment and components plummeted by 23.4 percent, to $5.52 billion. Imports of equipment and components for industries other than electricity declined by 32 percent in the first 10 months of this year, to $4.73 billion, and the country spent 13.9 percent less for power-generating equipment and paid only $4.66 billion to import it.

When it comes to consumer goods, however, the sharpest decline was in the import of durable goods. In the January-October period, the cost of importing durable goods from abroad was down 32.1 percent, to $3.09 billion.

According to the TurkStat figures the foreign trade deficit in October plunged 50.7 percent, to $2.57 billion. It was $5.22 billion in the same month of the previous year. Turkey earned 3.9 percent more from its exports and spent 15.2 percent less for its imports in October, TurkStat numbers revealed. In this month, exporters made $10.1 billion from sales abroad, whereas importers bought goods worth $12.68 billion.

In the first 10 months, however, exports decreased by 27.6 percent, to $83.21 billion, compared to the same period of 2008. Imports, on the other hand, sustained a greater decline of 36.8 percent to $112.85 billion, thus the foreign trade deficit in the first 10 months decreased by 53.4 percent to $29.64 billion.