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Turkey's export increased by 15 percent in January 2017, which is the highest growth rate over the past 49 months.

Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TIM) Chairman Mehmet Buyukeksi announced about this while addressing a conference on February 1.

“The increase is the greatest change since November 2012," said Buyukeksi.

The country’s exports totaled $10.5 billion last month and the country's total exports over the last 12 months stood at $143.6 billion, up by 1.8 percent compared to the previous 12 months.

"We announced 2017 as a leaping point for exports. We expect an increase in petroleum and commodity prices, a decrease in export losses in Russia due to the normalization of relations, and an increase in petroleum exporting countries' imports," he added.

Buyukeksi said that the losses of exporters due to falling prices of export products was $126 million and losses due to the decreasing value of the Turkish lira were $302 million in January. If they had not occurred, the increase rate in January would have reached 19.6 percent.

The EU's share in Turkish national exports reached 49.9 percent. Middle Eastern countries account for 18.2 percent and African countries 8.3 percent of Turkish exports.

Exports to Russia increased by 57 percent, the highest level since the 2015 crisis between the two countries.

The highest export growth rates are fixed for products such as olive oil (146 percent), ships and yachts (57 percent) and fresh fruit and vegetables (46 percent).

Last year, Turkey exported goods to $142.6 billion, while imports amounted to $198.6 billion

The country's economic heart, Istanbul, remains the highest-exporting city in Turkey followed by Bursa, Kocaeli, Izmir and Gaziantep.

The volume of Turkey’s foreign trade amounted to $341.2 billion in 2016, which is 2.8 percent less than in 2015, said the report of the Turkish Statistical Institute.

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