Istanbul, Feb 29 () – In Jan., the continous drop in exports set the decrease in imports back, as overall foreign trade decreased by 20.7 percent to 22.96 billion dollars, from 28.95 billion dollars for in the same month of last year.

According to the provisional data, produced with the cooperation of the Turkish Statistical Institute and the Ministry of Customs and Trade, exports which was 9 billion 597 million dollars dropped by 22 percent and imports fell by 19.7 percent to 13 billion 358 million dollars compared with Jan. 2015.

Foreign trade deficit fell by 13.4 percent against the same month of 2015 despite the sharper decrease in exports comparing to imports, due to higher volume of imports.

In Jan., foreign trade deficit fell by 13.4 percent from 4 billion 343 million dollars to 3 billion 762 million dollars.

On the contrary, exports coverage imports was 71.8 percent, while it was 73.9 percent in Jan. 2015.

Exports to the European Union fell by 9.7 percent

Exports to the European Union (EU) fell by 9.7 from 5 billion 259 million dollars to 4 billion 750 million dollars, although the proportion of the EU countries was increased to 49.5 percent in Jan.2016, while it was 42.7 percent in Jan. 2015.

The main partner country for exports was Germany with 1 billion 90 million dollars, followed by the United Kingdom (UK) with 650 million dollars, Italy with 570 million dollars and Iraq with 469 million dollars.

The top country for Turkey’s imports was China with 1 billion 924 million dollars, while records for imports range from Russia with 1 billion 345 million dollars, Germany with 1 billion 163 million dollars and Italy with 606 million dollars.

Exports to Russia drops by 66 percent in Jan.

Turkey’s exports to Russia dropped sharply after relations got tense due to downed aircraft crisis. Russia was dropped out of the top 20 list of countries that Turkey exports.

According to Turkstat data, the exports to Russia dropped by 66 percent from 316 billion dollars to 107 million dollars in Jan. 2016 comparing to the same month of 2015.

Russia dropped to the 21st row from the 11th in the top export destinations list.

The sharp fall in exports seems to have stemmed from the decrease in exports to Iraq, the UK, France, the United Arab Emirates and Iran markets, as well as the economic and geopolitical developments with Russia, said ALB Forex Researcher Enver Erkan.

Meanwhile, the sharp decrease in imports stemmed from the low oil and stock prices, according to Erkan.