ISTANBUL, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's total exports increased by 32.9 percent year on year and amounted to 225.368 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Monday.
Speaking at a press conference in the county's financial hub Istanbul, Erdogan said Turkey also increased its foreign trade volume to 496.7 billion dollars last year, from 87.6 billion dollars in 2002.
"We have reached the highest export value in the history of the Republic in the product group of 75 chapters," he noted, adding that his country revised its export target in 2022 to 250 billion dollars.
The Turkish leader said Turkey's exports increased by 86.6 percent to South America, 33 percent to the European Union (EU), 29 percent to non-EU European countries, 22.6 percent to the Near and Middle East, and 44.8 percent to North Africa.
Meanwhile, Turkey's foreign trade deficit fell 7.8 percent year on year to 45.9 billion dollars in 2021, according to the president.
Erdogan earlier said the government's new economic plan focused on investment, production, and export surplus. Enditem