Turkey’s exports in the January-November period reached 231 billion dollars with an increase of 14 percent within the scope of the same period of last year, while the mining sector also contributed positively to this growth. According to the data shared by the Istanbul Mineral Exporters’ Association (İMİB), the sector increased its exports by 10.23 percent in 2022 compared to the 11-month period of the previous year, and realized an export of 5.9 billion dollars. In the export of the mining industry, on the basis of product group, metallic ores ranked first with 1 billion 998 million dollars, natural stones ranked second with 1 billion 928 million dollars, and industrial minerals ranked third with 1 billion 257 million dollars of exports. In the 11-month period, there was an increase of 2.03 percent in metallic ores, 0.04 percent in natural stones, and 26.58 percent in industrial minerals compared to the same period of the previous year. China came to the fore with an export of 1.2 billion dollars in the ranking of the countries with the highest sales in the mining sector in the said period. The USA took the second place with an export of 588 million dollars, and Bulgaria took the third place with an export of 350 million dollars. It was observed that 291 million dollars were exported to Italy in the fourth place and 255 million dollars to Spain in the fifth place. According to IMIB data, these five countries were followed by Belgium, India, Germany, Romania and France, respectively. On the other hand, when the increase rates are taken into account, the most striking figures in the period in question stood out with 55.98 percent growth rates for Bulgaria, 50.91 percent for Italy and 23.79 percent for India. “We aim to contribute more to our country” Evaluating the 11-month period in mineral exports, Istanbul Mineral Exporters’ Association (İMİB) Board Member Fahri Hacıalioğlu said, “The increase in exports in 11 months of the year made our industry happy. However, we should say that there has been a slowdown in our exports for the last 2-3 months. Especially in the USA and Europe, the effects of the recession began to be seen more clearly. The pandemic process is still effective in China. The occurrence of these situations in our main markets naturally affects us. However, as IMIB, we are working to ensure that our exports do not slow down and even rise to higher levels. We are trying to diversify the markets of our members and to strengthen their positions in the markets they are in. We organize trade delegation and procurement committee programs, and we participate in national fairs abroad. We know that the potential of our mining industry is greater. Minerals will be needed more in the future. Mining products are closely related to the whole world. From this point of view, we aim for Turkey to get a larger share from the world market. The total exports of the mining sector will surpass last year by the end of 2022. However, this rise is not enough for us. Depending on the developments in the world, we aim to increase our exports faster in 2023 and to contribute more to our country.”