According to the provisional foreign trade statistics compiled by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) and the Turkish Undersecretariat of Customs, in September this year Turkey's foreign trade deficit decreased to $6.8 billion from $10.45 billion in September 2011. In the iron and steel sector, Turkey's foreign trade deficit was $718 million in September, decreasing from $1 billion recorded in the same month last year.
In September this year, Turkey's iron and steel exports totaled $878.3 million, decreasing by 11.2 percent from August and down 3.3 percent year on year. Iron and steel ranked fourth among the products of the country with the highest export value in September.
Meanwhile, in September exports of articles of iron or steel, which ranked eight among the products with the highest export value, rose by 6.1 percent month on month and were up 5.7 percent compared to September 2011, amounting to $514.8 million.
In the first nine months of 2012, the country's iron and steel exports stood at $8.7 billion, while its exports of articles of iron or steel amounted to $4.4 billion, increasing by 3.8 percent and up 3.9 percent respectively, both compared to the corresponding period of 2011.