At the 5th SteelOrbis Turkish Steel Market Conference held in Istanbul on November 26, Namık Ekinci, president of the Istanbul Iron and Steel Exporters' Association (IDCIB), gave a presentation entitled ‘The Evaluation of Turkish Exports'. In his presentation, Mr. Ekinci discussed the performance of the Turkish steel industry in the area of exports in the first 10 months of 2010 through comparisons with the past and revealed his predictions regarding the future.
Ekinci pointed out that Turkey's iron and steel exports have been on a decreasing trend in terms of tonnage since the global financial crisis in 2008, while sales revenues saw a huge drop in 2009, though rebounding in 2010. The IDCIB president said that Turkey's iron and steel export volume dropped by 6.3 percent from 19.37 million mt in 2008 to 18.74 million mt in 2009, and by 9.04 percent year on year in the first 10 months of 2010 to 14.34 million mt. On the other hand, Ekinci said that the revenues earned through exports dropped from approximately $20 billion in 2008 to $11.01 billion in 2009, but rebounded by 8.2 percent year on year in the first 10 months of 2010 to $10.03 billion.
In terms of products, when the first 10 months of 2009 and 2010 are compared, Mr. Ekinci said that the export tonnage of billets and slabs rose from 1.92 million mt to 3.19 million mt, exports of pipes and pipe components increased from 1.33 million mt to 1.43 million mt, flats exports dropped from 1.49 million mt to 1.08 million mt, while long steel exports decreased from 10.3 million mt to 7.7 million mt.
Looking at sales revenues, he pointed out that slight increases were seen in flat and pipe/pipe component exports, amounting to $820.33 million and $1.37 billion respectively. In addition, a 116 increase was recorded in revenues from billet and slab exports and a seven percent decrease was recorded in long steel exports, totaling $1.72 billion and $4.53 billion respectively.
Ekinci indicated that in 2010 Turkey's iron and steel sector is still the country's third largest exporter, following the automative and textile sectors - the same situation as in 2009.
The IDCIB president also indicated that the average price per unit sold has seen an important increase, with the year-to-date level standing at $704/mt in 2010 as compared to $590/mt in the first 11 months of 2010. He said that the increasing trend has continued, reaching $765/mt in November 1-22 of the current year.
Mr. Ekinci said that the Middle East-Asia area is still Turkey's main export destination for iron and steel, with exports to this region in the first 10 months of the year standing at around 6.08 billion mt, increasing by 11.7 percent year on year.The revenues obtained from these sales amounted to $3.08 billion, increasing by 30.4 percent year on year. Meanwhile, huge year-on-year decreases of 44.6 percent in tonnage and 32 percent in revenues were seen in exports to Africa in the first 10 months of the current year, dropping to 2.78 billion mt and $1.91 billion respectively. Export tonnage to the EU decreased by 13.7 percent year on year, while revenues increased by 6.2 percent in the period in question, reaching 1.86 million mt and $1.72 billion respectively.
Ekinci said that the largest rises in Turkish steel exports in the first 10 months of the current year were recorded to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, USA, Thailand, Peru, Brazil, Tunisia and Britain while the largest drops were recorded in exports to Egypt, Algeria, Iraq, Vietnam,Yemen, Greece, Italy and Syria.
He also pointed out that the 68.02 percent and 57.81 percent drops in export tonnage and revenues to Egypt in the first 10 months of the year had a profound influence on the decline in long product exports in this period. The IDCIB president underlined the important rise in exports to the South and North America regions.
Commenting on expectations for the future, Mr. Ekinci pointed out that by the end of the year Turkey's iron and steel export tonnage will not have caught up with the 2009 numbers, while the export revenues for the year will exceed the 2009 levels by 10 percent.
He said that he is optimistic about the 2011 outlook, anticipating a year of global economic recovery and a rise in consumption, with a rebound expected particularly in the US economy. Ekinci indicated that there are already hints in this direction, adding that the positive developments in the oil sector might also boost the steel industry.
The IDCIB president said that Turkey will gradually increase its share in global commerce, from 2.8 percent ($19.3 billion) in 2008 to 3.6 percent ($25 billion) in 2013, 3.9 percent ($38 billion) in 2018 and 4.1 percent ($55 billion) in 2025.