According to the data provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), in April this year Turkey's total hot rolled coil (HRC) exports amounted to 200,188 metric tons, reaching the highest level recorded since April 2011. The country's HRC exports rose 42.8 percent compared to the previous month and were more than double compared to April 2012. The decrease in Turkey's hot rolled coil exports in March on month-on-month basis followed seven consecutive months of upward movement.
Turkey's hot rolled coil exports to Italy more than quintupled in April of the current year compared to the same month of 2012, totaling 100,430 mt, and were double compared to the previous month, returning to the February 2013 level, which was the highest level since May 2011. On the other hand, Portugal, which was Turkey's second largest export destination for hot rolled coil in the first quarter of this year, increased its hot rolled coil imports from Turkey to historic record levels in April this year with a total of 41,125 mt. In the first four months of the year, Turkey's hot rolled coil exports to Portugal totaled 88,527 mt, up strongly from the 23,328 mt recorded in the same period of the previous year.
In the first four months of the current year, Turkey's total hot rolled coil (HRC) exports amounted to 633,858 mt, more than double compared to the corresponding period of 2012. As can be seen in the chart below, Italy was the largest HRC export destination for Turkey in the first four months of the current year.
Meanwhile, in April of the current year Turkey's hot rolled plate exports totaled 12,545 mt, increasing slightly from the previous month and down 55 percent compared to the same month of 2012. Turkey's hot rolled sheet exports in April amounted to 9,770 mt, falling for the second consecutive month on month-on-month basis, with a 5.7 percent decline from March, while the hot rolled sheet export figure decreased 25.4 percent on year-on-year basis.