Turkey's economy minister defines recent export figures as a step towards new record

ANKARA (A.A) - December 1, 2011 - Turkey's economy minister defined on Thursday recent export figures as a step towards a new record. Zafer Caglayan said Turkey made more than last year's overall exports (7 billion USD) in the first 11 months of 2011. "These figures indicate that we are proceeding towards a new export record step by step," Caglayan said as he assessed export figures in November. Earlier on Thursday, Turkish Exporters' Assembly made public export figures in November 2011, and said Turkey earned 10.7 billion USD from its exports in this month with a 13.9 percent year-on-year rise. In the first 11 months of 2011, Turkey's exports were up 19.7 percent and reached 122.1 billion USD. Turkey exported goods worth 133.9 billion USD with 19.5 percent rise in the last 12 month period. Turkish automotive industry made the highest exports in November with 1.6 billion USD, and chemical industry came the second with 1.2 billion. The third highest exporting industry was ready-to-wear with 1.1 billion USD. "This rise in our exports in days when global problems continued and there were some negative projections, is really significant," Caglayan said.  Caglayan also said Turkey's 11-month export performance indicated that Turkey could easily achieve its year-end 134.8 billion USD export target.