According to the customs statistics provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), in August this year Turkey's iron ore imports amounted to 689,492 metric tons, rising by 25 percent compared to the previous month and almost quintuple compared to the 142,620 mt recorded in the same month of 2011.
Turkey's top iron ore source in August this year was again Brazil which supplied 246,270 mt of iron ore to Turkey, down 36.6 percent compared to the previous month, and up compared to the 30,723 mt recorded in August 2011.
In the first eight months of this year, Turkey imported 4.7 million mt of iron ore, increasing 17.4 percent compared to the first eight months of the previous year. The import value of iron ore in January-August was $731 million, up 9.1 percent compared to the same period last year.
In the period in question, Turkey's iron ore imports from Brazil constituted 61.8 percent of the country's total iron ore imports with 2.9 million mt, up 36.9 percent compared to January-August 2011.