According to the provisional foreign trade statistics compiled by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) and the Turkish Undersecretariat of Customs, in March this year Turkey's iron and steel imports totaled $1.62 billion, decreasing by 4.6 percent year on year and up 5.5 percent compared to February. Iron and steel ranked third among the most imported products of the country in the given month. In March, imports of articles of iron or steel rose by 13.7 percent compared to February and were down 21.9 percent year on year, amounting to $189 million.
Meanwhile, in the first three months of 2012 the country's iron and steel imports stood at $4.8 billion, while its imports of articles of iron or steel amounted to $526 million, increasing by 0.7 percent and down 11.2 percent respectively, both compared to the corresponding period of 2011.
On the other hand, in March Turkey's foreign trade deficit decreased from $9.8 billion to $7.35 billion, compared to March 2011. In the iron and steel sector, the foreign trade deficit was $601 million, decreasing from $716 million recorded in the same month last year.