Turkey’s billet exports up 67.5 percent in Q1

According to the data provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), in March this year Turkey's steel billet exports amounted to 288,225 metric tons, increasing by 47.4 percent compared to the previous month and almost quadruple compared to the same month of 2012.

The revenue generated by Turkey's steel billet exports in March totaled $158 million, increasing 45.8 percent compared to February and more than triple year on year. According to the data released by TUIK, in March the average price of Turkey's steel billet exports stood at $549/mt, falling compared to the average of $626/mt recorded in March 2012.

In the first quarter of the year, Turkey's steel billet exports amounted to 752,256 mt, rising 67.5 percent compared to the same period of 2012, with a value of $414 million, up 50.95 percent year on year. In the first quarter of the year, Turkey's steel billet exports to North Africa amounted to 190,884 mt, reaching the highest level recorded since the third quarter of 2011, more than triple year on year and up 58.6 percent compared to the previous quarter. Meanwhile, the Middle East, the main destination of Turkey's steel exports, fell for the second quarter in the January-March period this year on quarter-on-quarter basis to 392,366 mt, down 16.5 percent from the previous quarter, but up 7.1 percent year on year.

Turkey's main steel billet destinations on country basis in the first quarter of this year are presented in the chart below:

Turkey's top 10 steel billet export destinations in January-March 2013 are as follows: