According to the customs statistics provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), in September this year Turkey's iron ore imports amounted to 1.16 million metric tons, rising by 68.8 percent compared to the previous month and up one percent compared to the same month of 2011. September is the third straight month in which a month-on-month increase was recorded in Turkey's iron ore imports.
Turkey's top iron ore source in September this year was again Brazil which supplied 677,829 mt of iron ore to Turkey, up 63.2 percent compared to the previous month, and down 5.7 percent compared to August 2011.
In the first nine months of this year, Turkey imported 5.9 million mt of iron ore, increasing 13.8 percent compared to the first nine months of the previous year. The value of iron ore imports in January-September was $909.3 million, up 2.5 percent compared to the same period last year.
In the period in question, Turkey's iron ore imports from Brazil constituted 61.1 percent of the country's total iron ore imports with 3.6 million mt, up 26.2 percent compared to January-September 2011.