In the January-February period of the current year, Turkey's steel exports increased by 1.3 percent year on year to 3.2 million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $2.3 billion, up 27.5 percent on year-on-year basis, according to the data released by the Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB).
In the January-February period, Turkey's main steel export destination was the EU, which received 1.3 million mt of steel products from Turkey, increasing by 62 percent year on year. The EU was followed by the Middle East, North America, North Africa and Central and South America which imported 714,000 mt, 217,300 mt, 211,000 mt and 203,000 mt of Turkish steel products respectively. In the same period, Italy, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Israel recorded the highest year-on-year increases in steel product imports from Turkey.
Meanwhile, in the first two months of this year, Turkey's main exported steel product was rebar with total exports amounting to 1 million mt. Rebar was followed by hot rolled flat steel exports totaling 539,000 mt, welded pipe exports amounting to 312,000 mt, wire rod totaling 264,000 mt and steel sections exports reaching 247,000 mt.
In February alone, Turkey's steel exports fell by 4.3 percent year on year to 1.6 million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $1.1 billion, rising by 24 percent compared to the same period of 2017.
CIB chairman Namik Ekinci said that, during the given period, the most significant development was the Section 232 tariffs on steel imports into the US. He went on to say that Turkey’s steel exports slowed down due to the uncertainty caused by Section 232 and that steel exports to the US sharply declined in the first two months of the current year. In this period, Turkey’s steel exports to the US declined by 60 percent to 195,000 mt and were down by 45 percent to $134.6 million in value, year on year. Ekinci defined Trump’s 25 percent tariff on steel imports as “the lesser of two evils” for Turkey, adding that this decision means that Turkey can continue exporting steel to the US for the time being.