The Turkey's Steel Exporters' Association (CIB) carried out commercial visits to Nigeria and Ghana on July 1-6 with the participation of 20 Turkish steel producing and exporting firms in order to evaluate new business opportunities, with the support of the Turkish Ministry of Economy. Visits by the Turkish trade delegation to three cities in the two countries in question are expected to be reflected in trade statistics in the coming period.
CIB president Namık Ekinci said that the visits were successful, stating, "We visited ministry and NGO officials, mainly the ministries of trade and industry in the two countries, aiming to increase knowledge about Turkish industry. We are very pleased with their interest in our country."
Pointing to Nigeria's population of 180 million and its large oil fields, Mr. Ekinci said that Nigeria was about to see a surge in development including residential construction, road building, refinery investments, airfield modernization and many other governmental investments. In a first phase, construction of 300,000 residential buildings and thousands of kilometers of roads has been mentioned.
Referring to the official statistics, Mr Ekinci said that steel consumption per capita in Nigeria was 12 kg per year. He stressed the potential in Nigeria with its population of 180 million, considering that Turkey with its population of 75 million has a per capita steel consumption of 365 kg per year.
Mr. Ekinci also mentioned the safe conditions and stable political and economic situation in Ghana, stating that the country is a very critical market with a population of 25 million. Urgent demand for 140,000 residential buildings points to a possible increase in the country's steel consumption, Ekinci said.
The CIB president went on to say that the association and its trade board continue to have a busy schedule, with further commercial visits planned to strategic countries in order to increase export activities. He highlighted Turkey's annual steel export target of $55 billion by 2023, as part of its overall export target of $500 billion by that year.