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 foreign trade deficit decreased to $5.9 billion from $7.46 billion in February 2011. In the iron and steel sector, Turkey's foreign trade deficit was $586 million in February, decreasing from $669 million recorded in the same month last year.
In February, Turkey's iron and steel exports totaled $1.09 billion, increasing by 18.1 percent year on year and up 37.3 percent from January. Iron and steel ranked second among the products with the highest export value of the country in February, while motor land vehicles had the highest export value.
Meanwhile, exports of articles of iron or steel, which ranked eighth among the products with the highest export value, fell by 19.3 percent month on month and were up 27.8 percent compared to February 2011, amounting to $514.5 million.
In the first two months of 2012, the country's iron and steel exports stood at $1.88 billion, while its exports of articles of iron or steel amounted to $938.76 million, increasing by 15.2 percent and up 15.9 percent respectively, both compared to the corresponding period of 2011.