In the January-August period of this year, Turkey's steel product exports to the United Arab Emirates, its largest steel export market, fell by 18.03 percent year on year, dropping to 1.1 million metric tons, according to the data provided by the Istanbul Mineral and Metals Exporters' Association (IMMIB). The revenue generated by these exports came to $762.36 million, decreasing only by 0.4 percent as compared to the corresponding period of 2010, due to increased steel prices.
Meanwhile, as compared to the first eight months of 2008, Turkey's steel product exports to the UAE in January-August of the current year regressed by 76 percent in volume and 82.7 percent in revenue.
Steel product exports to the UAE accounted for a 9.5 percent share of Turkey's total steel product exports in the January-August period this year, down from the 12.5 percent share recorded in the first eight months of 2010, and significantly down from the 33.3 percent in the corresponding period of 2008.
In the first eight months of this year, Turkey's leading exported steel product to the UAE was steel bars, including rebars, with a volume of 930,655 metric tons, up 12.37 percent year on year, followed by steel billet with an export volume reaching 141,096 metric tons, 68.28 percent lower as compared to the year-ago period.
In the period in question, steel bar exports accounted for 80.95 percent of Turkey's total steel product exports to the UAE, while steel billet constituted 12.27 percent of the total exports.