The Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB) has stated that overseas demand for value-added products continues to increase. Mainly used in the automotive industry, alloy steel wire is among Turkey’s most exported high value-added steel products.
In November this year, Turkey's steel exports increased by 0.5 percent year on year to 1.2 million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $662 million, down 25.8 percent on year-on-year basis, according to the data released by the Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB).
In the January-November period of this year, Turkey's steel exports declined by 7.2 percent to 14.7 million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $9.1 billion, down 24.1 percent, both on year-on-year basis. In the given period, Turkey's main steel export destination was the Middle East, which received five million mt of steel products from Turkey. The Middle East was followed by the EU, North America and North Africa, which imported 2.5 million mt, 2.2 million mt and two million mt of Turkish steel products respectively. In the first 11 months, Egypt, the US, Syria, Djibouti and Colombia recorded the highest increases in steel product imports from Turkey.
The CIB stated that, with demand for value-added steel products increasing in international markets recently, Turkey’s alloy steel wire exports increased by 170 percent year on year to 70,000 mt in the January-November period this year. Alloy steel wires are used in many industries such as automotive, and are especially in demand by European countries.
To compete in the global market and to increase the share of high value-added products in its exports, the CIB stated that the Turkish steel industry should focus on steel production using iron ore. The CIB also said that it technical committee continues its trips to help Turkish steel companies to integrate the latest technology into production. “We will continue to work until the Turkish steel industry completes its transformation period,” commented CIB chairman Namık Ekinci.