Istanbul ranks highest in Türkiye's foreign trade

AA - Istanbul ranked highest in Türkiye's foreign trade in the first six months of 2009 with exports amounting to USD 25.9 billion, and imports to USD 32.8 billion. Istanbul's exports accounted for 54.2 percent of Türkiye's total exports, while its imports accounted for 52.6 percent of the total import. According to data issued by the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat, exports and imports in six of Türkiye's major cities exceeded the level of USD 1 billion. Following Istanbul, Bursa ranked second in exports with USD 3.99 billion, Izmir ranked third with USD 2.6 billion, followed by Ankara with USD 2.1 billion, Kocaeli with USD 1.8 billion, and Gaziantep with USD 1.38 billion. Ankara ranked second in imports with USD 7.9 billion and was followed by Kocaeli, Bursa and Izmir. Under the impact of the global crisis, the number of importing companies declined 9.9 percent, while that of exporting companies decreased 0.02 percent.