According to the customs statistics provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), in March this year Turkey's iron ore imports declined as compared to February, maintaining the up-and-down trend on month-on-month basis observed in the last seven months, as indicated in the graph below. The country's iron ore imports amounted to 499,150 mt in March, down 25.8 percent compared to February, and falling 37 percent compared to the same month of 2012. The value of Turkey's iron ore imports in March this year was $74 million, down 36 percent year on year.
In the first quarter of 2013, Turkey imported 1.5 million mt of iron ore, decreasing 20.5 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2012 and down 25.2 percent from the previous quarter. In the period in question, Turkey's iron ore imports from Brazil decreased significantly by 53 percent on year-on-year basis, amounting to 572,807 mt, while Ukraine increased its iron ore exports to Turkey in the first quarter of the year to 366,626 mt, almost quadruple compared to the first quarter of 2012.
Turkey's iron ore import distribution with respect to source countries in the first quarter is as follows:
