According to the statistics provided by the Istanbul Mineral and Metals Exporters' Association (IMMIB), in August Turkey's total steel product exports amounted to 1.27 million metric tons, decreasing by 36.81 percent year on year. Meanwhile, the revenue generated by these exports totaled $806 million, decreasing by 68.20 percent compared to August 2008. In August last year, Turkish steel export prices, especially for rebar, the country's most widely exported steel product, reached their highest level of the previous 10 years, before the global economic downturn impacted deeply on the overall industry.
Meanwhile, in August this year Turkey's steel product export volume declined by 23.61 percent compared to preliminary data for July, while the export revenue decreased by 14.68 percent month on month.
In the January-August period of the current year total steel product exports of Turkish mills slid 12.85 percent year on year to 12.47 million metric tons, totaling a value of $7.25 billion, which is 49.28 percent lower than the corresponding period of 2008.
In the first eight months of the year, Turkey's steel product exports to the Middle East, its largest market for steel exports, amounted to 4.62 million metric tons, decreasing by 41.20 percent year on year, totaling a value of $2.38 billion, down 68.12 percent year on year. Turkey's second largest export market for steel products during the period in question was North Africa, which accounted for 3.90 million metric tons, up 274.62 percent year on year, with a value of $2.17 billion. Europe came next with 1.78 million metric tons, down 43.20 percent year on year.
In the January-August period of the current year, Turkish steel product exports to Asia and Oceania totaled 945,400 metric tons, up 66.01 percent; its exports to Africa reached 443,680 metric tons, up 11.23 percent; exports to the Americas amounted to 442,350 metric tons, down 49.63 percent; and finally exports to CIS countries totaled 274,680 metric tons, down 19.31 percent - all compared to the corresponding period of 2008.
