Turkey's export volume in 2012 increased by 13.1 percent year-on-year, hitting a record high of 152.5 billion U.S. dollars, while imports posted a 1.8 percent decline to 236.5 billion U.S. dollars during the same period, the Turkish Statistical Institute said Thursday.
Thanks to the rapid growth of exports, Turkey's foreign trade deficit in 2012 dropped to 83.9 billion U.S. dollars, down by 20.7 percent from a year earlier. Analysts said that fast-increasing gold exports to Iran boosted the exports volume.
The improvement in the foreign trade balance will be conducive to narrowing Turkey's current account deficit.