Refreshing its monthly figure record, Turkey's exports hit $20.8 billion in October, the trade minister said on Monday.

Turkish exports rose 20.2% year-on-year in October, Mehmet Mus said during a news conference in Ankara, where he revealed the country's preliminary foreign trade data for the month.

"The 12-month rolling exports figure of $215.7 billion is also a new all-time high in October," Mus said.

The country's imports also climbed 13% to $22.3 billion during the same period, he stressed, adding that the exports-to-imports coverage ratio reached 93.4% in October, up 5.6 percentage points from the same month last year.

Pointing to the upward trend in the exports-to-imports coverage ratio during the course of the year, the minister said: "Very soon, we will have achieved the target of Turkey, which posts a surplus in foreign trade.

In January-October, the country's exports went up by 33.9% on an annual basis to $181.8 billion, Mus pointed out.

Turkish imports amounted to $215.6 billion in the first ten months of this year, a rise of 22.5% from last year.

"Our foreign trade deficit decreased 16% year-on-year to $33.8 billion from January to October," he said.

On his part, Ismail Gulle, the head of the Turkish Exporters' Assembly, stressed that the automotive sector was the biggest exporter in October with $2.6 billion in exports.

It was followed by chemical and steel sectors with $2.3 billion, Gulle noted.

Germany ($1.7 billion), the US ($1.3 billion), and the UK ($1.2 billion) were the largest export markets for Turkey in October./aa