Turkish Defense & Aerospace Industry Closes First Two Months of 2021 with 17.5% Increase in Exports
According to data released by the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM), the Turkish Defense & Aerospace Industry realized US$ 166.997 million in defense and aerospace equipment exports in January (represents a 3.7% increase compared to the same period of the previous year) and US$ 233.225 million in February 2021, represents a 34.1% increase compared to the same period of the previous year and around 40% increase compared to January 2021. According to export figures revealed by TIM, during January 1st - February 28th of 2021, the Turkish Defense & Aerospace Sector exported a total of US$ 400.222 million, while the said figure came in at around US$ 340.594 million level in the same period of last year (representing a 17.5% increase).
Even though the industry’s January export data shows about a 62% decrease compared to December 2020 (US$ 279.512 million), December exports are generally higher compared to other months due to the year-end closures, as many countries and domestic customers prefer to place their orders in December with the remaining money from their budgets. When we take a look at the export figures of the Turkish Defense and Aerospace Industry in January in the last three years, we observe that in January 2021, there is a 3.7% increase compared to January 2020 (US$ 166.851 million), a decrease of approximately 0.9% compared to January 2019 (US$ 174.498 million) and an increase of about 62% compared to January 2018 (US$ 106.506 million).
On the other hand, according to data released by TIM, the total weight of products exported by the Turkish Defense & Aerospace Industry in January 2021 was around 4.255kg and in February it is 5.513kg. So, the average price of Turkish Defense & Aerospace export products has reached US$ 39.25 per kilogram in January 2021 and US$ 42.30 per kilogram in February 2021. The total weight of products exported by the Turkish Defense & Aerospace Industry during the first two months of 2021 is around 9.768kg. It was 5,856kg during the same period of last year.
In the Presidential Annual Program of 2021, prepared by the Turkish Presidency, Presidency of Strategy and Budget and published in the official gazette on October 27, 2020, the export volume was projected as US$ 6.2 billion and the turnover as US$ 19.7 billion for 2021. With the initiation of first payments under the contracts signed with Turkish companies during the second half of 2020, export revenues are expected to increase further in 2021 and even to exceed the year 2019, which closed at a record high.
According to data released by TIM, the U.S. ranked first in defense and aerospace industry exports in January 2021. Exports to this country increased by 38.5% to US$ 83.931 million. Azerbaijan followed the U.S. with an export volume of US$ 39.717 million from US$ 62.11 thousand. (It represents an increase of 63.848%, recorded as US$ 101.209 million in October 2020, US$ 31.415 million in November and US$ 5.189 million in December, thus shifting from a sharp downward trend in the last two months to an upward trend.) Germany ranked third with a decline of 36.8% to US$ 12.027 million. These countries were followed by Oman with US$ 6.410 million, France with US$ 3.239 million, the United Kingdom with US$ 2.980 million, Netherlands with US$ 1.848 million, Canada with US$ 1.438 million, Italy with US$ 1.319 million, Brazil with US$ 1.289 million and Bulgaria with US$ 1.178 million.
According to TIM’s data as of March 1, 2021 the list of the top 15 countries that imported defense and aerospace products from Turkey during January 1 – February 28, 2021 is composed of the US, UAE, Azerbaijan, Germany, Uzbekistan, Ruanda, China, Oman, the UK, Netherlands, France, Qatar, Italy, Canada and Indonesia. As in previous periods, the US ranked first in defense and aerospace industry exports during first two months of 2021. Exports to this country increased by 31.9% to US$ 172.891 million. The UAE followed the US with an export volume of US$ 44.356 million from US$26.091 million realized in the same period of last year. Azerbaijan ranked third with around US$ 40.870 million, representing 388.6% increase compared to the same period of last year. Germany ranked fourth with a fall by 25.8% to US$ 28.375 million. Uzbekistan ranked fifth with around US$ 20.284 Million, representing 2521.3% increase from US$80.42 thousand during January-February 2020. These countries were followed by Rwanda, which imported US$ 15.935 million worth of defense and aerospace products from Turkey during first two months of 2021 (which was at around US$ 0.12 thousand level during the same period last year, rising 13169321.5% compared to the same period of 2020), China with US$ 10.040 million, Oman with US$ 6.426 Million, UK with US$ 6.257 million, the Netherlands with US$ 4.949 million, France with US$ 4.819 million, Qatar with US$ 3.927 million, Italy with US$ 2.814 million, Canada with US$ 2.544 million and Indonesia with US$ 2.167 million.
According to TIM’s figures during January 1st – February 28th of 2021, the Turkish Defense & Aerospace Industry has exported US$ 175.586 million (which was at the level of US$ 134.947 million during the same period last year) in defense and aerospace equipment to North America/US, around US$ 50.750 million (which was at US$ 76.107 million during the same period last year) to EU Member Countries, around US$ 8.546 million to other European countries, around US$ 56.446 million (which was at around US$ 62.156 million during the same period last year, falling 9.2% compared to 2020) to the Middle East countries, around US$ 64.664 million (which was at US$ 12.254 million during the same period last year, representing a 427.7% increase) to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), around US$ 12.402 million (which was at the level of US$ 27.864 million during the same period last year) to other Asian countries, around US$ 19.573 million (which was at US$ 1.764 million during the same period last year, representing a 1009.8% increase) to African countries and around US$ 7.086 million (which was at around US$ 7.6 million during the same period last year) to countries in the Far East.
