Business Desk :Bangladesh’s export to Turkey exceeded US$ 1 billion-mark during 2013 calendar-year while the total two-way trade last year stood at $1.2 billion, heavily in favour of Bangladesh.Turkey’s export to Bangladesh during 2013 was about US$ 196 million (US$ 195,536,982), thus registering a trade surplus in favour of Bangladesh for an amount close to US$ 809 million (US$ 808,887,544), said a media release issued by the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday quoting Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT).Major Bangladesh exports to Turkey in 2013 included non-knitted garment products (US$ 542 million), knitted garment items (US$ 238 million), jute yarn (US$ 183.5 million) and ceramics (US$ 11 million).Major items of import from Turkey during the period were iron/steel, machineries and cotton textiles.According to TURKSTAT, in 2012, Bangladesh exported products worth over US$ 766 million to Turkey against her import from Turkey at US$ 214 million thus generating a total of bilateral trade volume of US$ 980 million. Bangladesh enjoyed a trade surplus of US$ 552 million in 2012.Bangladesh’s export to Turkey, therefore, registered a growth of 31.07 percent in 2013 over 2012.Exports from Bangladesh to Turkey suffered setback in 2011 and 2012 after Turkey imposed safeguard duties in 2011 on readymade garment imports from all countries, including Bangladesh.Concerted efforts by the Bangladesh Embassy in Ankara through encouraging Turkish importers to import more from Bangladesh have helped turn around the situation, reflected on the sustained growth of Bangladesh’s export to Turkey in the last two years.
