In the January-March period of the current year, Turkey's steel exports increased by 21.7 percent year on year to 5.2 million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $3 billion, up 41.6 percent on year-on-year basis, according to the data released by the Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB).
In the first quarter of this year, Turkey's main steel export destination was the EU, which received 1.5 million mt of steel products from Turkey, rising by 101 percent year on year. The EU was followed by the Middle East, North America and North Africa, which imported 1.2 million mt, 664,000 mt and 471,000 mt of Turkish steel products respectively. In the given period, Singapore, Spain, Italy, Hong Kong and Yemen recorded the highest year-on-year increases in steel product imports from Turkey.
Meanwhile, in the given quarter, Turkey's main exported steel product was rebar with total exports amounting to 1.9 million mt. Rebar was followed by hot rolled flat steel exports amounting to 703,000 mt, welded pipe exports totaling 474,000 mt, wire rod imports amounting to 451,000 mt and steel section exports reaching 397,000 mt.
In March alone, Turkey's steel exports went up by 39.7 percent year on year to two million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $1.2 billion, up 60.9 percent compared to the same month of the previous year.
“In March this year, the year-on-year increase in the value of Turkey’s steel exports was due to the increases in our export prices, which rose by $78 in the given month. The increases in export prices derived primarily from the rises in global steel export prices caused by the increasing costs of Chinese steelmakers depending on commodity prices,” commented CIB chairman Namık Ekinci.
Referring to the remarkable increase in Turkey’s steel exports to Singapore, Mr. Ekinci stated that in March Turkey’s steel exports to Singapore increased by 133,000 mt compared to the same period of 2016, which shows that Turkish steel exporters started to gain market share in the Far East steel market. In addition, the increases Turkey has experienced in European countries like Italy, Spain, the UK, Belgium and Portugal continue to drive Turkey’s steel exports, Mr. Ekinci added.