According to the customs statistics provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), in February this year Turkey's iron ore imports surged as compared to January, maintaining the up and down trend on month-on-month basis observed in the last six months, as indicated in the graph below. The country's iron ore imports in February were more than double compared to January, amounting to 672,427 mt, increasing to August 2012 levels, after decreasing significantly in January on month-on-month basis. Turkey's iron ore imports in February were almost triple compared to the same month of 2012. The value of Turkey's iron ore imports in February this year was $88.3 million, double year on year and up 138 percent compared to January of the current year.
In February, Turkey's iron ore imports from Brazil increased significantly both on month-on-month and o year-on-year basis, amounting to 371,509 mt, while Sweden exported 171,333 mt of iron ore to Turkey in the given month, increasing slightly month on month and up 4.4 percent compared to the same month of the previous year.
In the first two months of 2013, Turkey imported 963,542 mt of iron ore, decreasing eight percent compared to the corresponding period of 2012. Turkey's iron ore import distribution with respect to source countries in the first two months is as follows:
