The World Steel Association (worldsteel) has shared steel import and export data for the first quarter of the current year.
Accordingly, in the given period, Turkey ranked sixth in the world in terms of exports, with a 3.2 percent share in global semi-finished and finished product exports. The country’s exports increased by 38.5 percent year on year to 3.75 million mt in the first quarter. This increase resulted from the base effect of the earthquake that occurred in the first quarter of 2023. China, the largest exporter in the global market, increased its exports by 28.2 percent year on year, while the highest increase was seen in Egypt, with a 102.5 percent rise.
Looking at imports, although Turkey’s semi-finished and finished product imports totaled 4.16 million mt in the first quarter, decreasing by 5.3 percent year on year, its share of global imports amounted to 4.9 percent, with Turkey being the fifth largest importer in the world.
In the given period, in terms of semi-finished and finished products, Turkey became a net importer with 3.75 million mt of exports against 4.16 million mt of imports, and became the 23rd largest net importer in the world with an import surplus of 416,000 mt. The US, Mexico and Thailand were the top three countries among net importing countries in the first quarter.
Looking at steel product segments separately, in the first quarter Turkey became the world’s second largest exporter in the long product trade with 1.9 million mt, and was the world’s 20th largest importer with 350,000 mt.
Meanwhile, as Turkey produces 73 percent of its crude steel with electric arc furnaces, in the first quarter it maintained its position as the world’s largest scrap importer with 5.3 million mt of imports, while its scrap exports totaled 53,000 mt.