In the January-October period of the current year, Turkey's steel exports increased by 7.6 percent year on year to 14.6 million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $9.2 billion, up 24.7 percent on year-on-year basis, according to the data released by the Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB).
In the January-October period, Turkey's main steel export destination was the EU, which received 4.5 million mt of steel products from Turkey, increasing by 54 percent year on year. The EU was followed by the Middle East, North America and North Africa, which imported 3.3 million mt, two million mt and 1.2 million mt of Turkish steel products respectively. In the given period, Turkish steel exports to Central and South America, especially Chile, Colombia and Panama, amounted to more than one million mt, up 34 percent year on year, while steel exports to the Far East increased by 559 percent year on year to one million mt. In the same period, Singapore, Italy, Spain, Canada and Hong Kong recorded the highest year-on-year increases in steel product imports from Turkey.
Meanwhile, in the January-October period, Turkey's main exported steel product was rebar with total exports amounting to 4.6 million mt. Rebar was followed by hot rolled flat steel exports totaling two million mt, welded pipe exports amounting to 1.6 million mt, steel sections totaling 1.2 million mt and wire rod exports reaching 1.1 million mt.
In October alone, Turkey's steel exports fell by 13.6 percent year on year to 1.5 million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $1 billion, rising by 36.4 percent compared to the same period of 2016.
“In the first ten months of this year, Turkey’s steel exports continued to increase. In the given period, our rebar exports declined by 1.2 million mt year on year, though we recorded increases in exports of other steel products. In the given period, the highest declines were recorded in the UAE, Egypt, the US, Iraq and Oman. This was mostly due to Middle Eastern countries building their own industries and making imports difficult in order to support domestic production and the recent developments in Iraq,” CIB chairman Namik Ekinci said.