In the January-August period of the current year, Turkey's steel exports increased by 1.9 percent year on year to 11 million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $5.9 billion, down 14.2 percent on year-on-year basis, according to the data released by the Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB).
In the January-August period, Turkey's main steel export destination was the Middle East, which received 3.7 million mt of steel products from Turkey. The Middle East was followed by the EU, North America and North Africa, which imported 2.2 million mt, 1.6 million mt and 1.5 million mt of Turkish steel products respectively. In the given period, Egypt, Israel and Yemen recorded the highest year-on-year increases in steel product imports from Turkey.
Meanwhile, in the January-August period this year, Turkey's main exported steel product was rebar with total exports amounting to 4.9 million mt. Rebar was followed by hot rolled flat steel exports amounting to 1.2 million mt, and steel section exports reaching 993,000 mt. In the given period, wire rod exports amounted to 654,000 mt, up 123,000 mt compared to the same period of 2015.
In August alone, Turkey's steel exports increased by 16.7 percent year on year to 1.6 million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $885 million, up 11.5 percent compared to the same month of the previous year.
“In the first eight months of this year, we have seen significant increases in our exports to Egypt, Israel, Yemen, the Netherlands and Chile. Yemen was one of our main markets in previous years, however, the problems in the country impacted our exports negatively. Recently, thanks to political and economic stability in Yemen, there has been a partial recovery in our exports to the country. In the January-August period, our steel exports to Yemen increased by 67 percent to 377,000 mt, compared to the same period of 2015. We believe that in the coming period the positive developments in the most important markets for the Turkish steel industry will continue,” commented CIB chairman Namık Ekinci.