According to the provisional foreign trade statistics compiled by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) and the Turkish Undersecretariat of Customs, in February this year Turkey's iron and steel imports totaled $1.54 billion, increasing by 5.3 percent year on year and up 8.7 percent compared to January. Iron and steel ranked third among the most imported products of the country in the given month. In February, imports of articles of iron or steel fell by three percent compared to January and were down 8.6 percent year on year, amounting to $166 million.
Meanwhile, in the first two months of 2012 the country's iron and steel imports stood at $2.56 billion, while its imports of articles of iron or steel amounted to $337 million, increasing by 3.5 percent and down 3.8 percent respectively, both compared to the corresponding period of 2011.
On the other hand, in February Turkey's foreign trade deficit decreased from $7.46 billion to $5.9 billion, compared to February 2011. In the iron and steel sector, the foreign trade deficit was $586 million, decreasing from $669 million recorded in the same month last year.