Trade in the free zones across Turkey increased by 0.8 percent reaching $17.9 billion in the first nine months of 2007, compared to the same period last year.
According to the data issued by the Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade, the trade volume in Istanbul Leather Free Trade Zone amounted to $4.7 billion, while that of the Aegean Zone exceeded $3 billion.
Although the trade volume increased by 30 percent reaching $1.7 billion in the Mersin Free Trade Zone in the first three quarters of 2007, it decreased by 7.9 percent in the Istanbul Thrace Free Trade Zone and 23.5 percent in the Bursa Free Trade Zone.
The data also disclosed that the Mardin, Rize and Trabzon free trade zones were among those whose trade volume dropped the most in 2007. Trade volume in the Mardin Free Trade Zone declined by 93 percent in the first nine months of 2007.
However, the trade volume increased by 45.2 percent to $8.4 million in the Rize Free Trade Zone and rose by 156.3 to $24.5 million in the Trabzon Free Trade Zone in the first nine months of 2006 over the same period in 2005.
Trade volume with EU countries reached $5 billion and around $1.2 billion with OECD countries. Again, the trade volume with other European countries reached $ 29.4 million, $749.3 million with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), $830.5 million with countries in North Africa and the Middle East and $1.6 billion with other countries across the world.
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