In the January-November period of the current year, Turkey's steel exports increased by 8.7 percent year on year to 16.2 million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $10.3 billion, up 26.6 percent on year-on-year basis, according to the data released by the Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB).
In the January-November period, Turkey's main steel export destination was the EU, which received five million mt of steel products from Turkey, increasing by 56 percent year on year. The EU was followed by the Middle East, North America and North Africa, which imported 3.7 million mt, 2.1 million mt and 1.4 million mt of Turkish steel products respectively. In the given period, Turkish steel exports to the Far East, especially Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, amounted to 1.2 million mt, up 560 percent year on year, while steel exports to the Central and South America increased by 35 percent year on year to 1.1 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-November period this year, Turkey's main exported steel product was rebar with total exports amounting to 5.2 million mt. Rebar was followed by hot rolled flat steel exports totaling 2.2 million mt, welded pipe exports amounting to 1.8 million mt, steel sections totaling 1.3 million mt and wire rod exports reaching 1.2 million mt.
In November alone, Turkey's steel exports rose by 20.3 percent year on year to 1.5 million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $1.1 billion, rising by 46.7 percent compared to the same period of 2016.
“The remarkable increase we experienced in exports in the January-November period can be explained by the increase in demand in the global export markets as a result of Chinese steelmakers and exporters’ reducing their capacities and exports and turning towards their domestic market. Accordingly, we have evaluated requests and increased our exports. As a result, in the January-November period we have gained great impetus in our steel exports, especially to the Far East countries,” CIB chairman Namik Ekinci said.