According to the customs statistics provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), in July this year Turkey's iron ore imports amounted to 551,734 metric tons, rising by 18.3 percent compared to the previous month and up 60.1 percent compared to the same month of 2011.
Turkey's top iron ore source in July this year was Brazil which supplied 388,559 mt of iron ore to Turkey, compared to 390,227 mt recorded in the previous month. According to TUIK data, no iron ore imports from Brazil to Turkey had been recorded in July 2011.
In the first seven months of this year, Turkey imported 4.03 million mt of iron ore, increasing four percent compared to the first seven months of the previous year. The import value of iron ore in January-July was $622 million, down 3.36 percent compared to the same period last year.
In the period in question, Turkey's iron ore imports from Brazil constituted 62 percent of the country's total iron ore imports with 2.5 million mt, up 19.2 percent compared to January-July 2011.