In June this year, Turkey's steel exports decreased by 5.1 percent year on year to 1.3 million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $832 million, down 21.7 percent on year-on-year basis, according to the data released by the Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB).
In the first half of this year, Turkey's steel exports declined by 11.1 percent to 8.2 million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $5.3 billion, down 23.6 percent, both on year-on-year basis. In the given period, Turkey's main steel export destination was the Middle East, which received 3.1 million mt. The Middle East was followed by the EU, which received 1.3 million mt.
In the first six months, Turkey's main exported steel product was rebar with total rebar exports amounting to 3.67 million mt. Rebar was followed by steel pipe exports totaling 942,000 mt, hot rolled flat steel exports amounting to 805,000 mt and steel profile exports reaching 792,000 mt.
“The exportation of dumped goods to our country is the main reason for this decline. Countries such as China which export dumped goods and which by implementing a low price strategy creating unfair competition are taking our share of the international market, which affects our exports and our production. Measures should be taken as soon as possible. Another important problem is that some countries to which we export goods in significant quantities still implement trade measures and initiate trade cases based on unfair arguments against our country in order to prevent any imports. These steps are taken in a way that does not comply with WTO rules and unfortunately they cause damage to Turkey's steel exports,” commented CIB chairman Namık Ekinci.