The Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB) has stated that in the first quarter of this year Turkish steel exports continued to increase, though Turkish exporters cannot prevent the decrease in the value of steel exports despite all their efforts given the challenging conditions in the industry. In the first quarter of this year, Turkey's steel exports rose by 3.2 percent year on year to 4.3 million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $2.1 billion, down 23 percent on year-on-year basis, according to the data released by the Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB).
In the first quarter, Turkey's main steel export destination was the Middle East, which received 1.41 million mt of steel products from Turkey. The Middle East was followed by North Africa and the EU, which imported 878,000 mt and 748,000 mt of Turkish steel products, respectively. In the given period, Egypt, Spain and Chile recorded the highest year-on-year increases in steel product imports from Turkey.
Meanwhile, in the given quarter, Turkey's main exported steel product was rebar with total exports amounting to two million mt. Rebar was followed by hot rolled flat steel exports totaling 508,000 mt, welded pipe exports amounting to 468,000 mt, and steel section exports reaching 385,000 mt.
“We continued to increase our steel export volume in the first quarter this year, supported by the increases to the EU and North Africa. However, the downtrend in the global steel industry continued to affect our steel export value adversely. We will continue our efforts to make up for our losses,” commented CIB chairman Namık Ekinci.