The Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB) has stated that in June this year Turkey’s steel exports showed an upward trend. In the first half of the current year, Turkey's steel exports rose by three percent year on year to 8.4 million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $4.5 billion, down 16.4 percent on year-on-year basis, according to the data released by the Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB).
In the January-June period, Turkey's main steel export destination was the Middle East, which received 2.9 million mt of steel products from Turkey. The Middle East was followed by the EU and North Africa, which imported 1.6 million mt and 1.3 million mt of Turkish steel products respectively. In the given period, Egypt, Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recorded the highest year-on-year increases in steel product imports from Turkey.
Meanwhile, in the January-June period this year, Turkey's main exported steel product was rebar with total exports amounting to 3.8 million mt. Rebar was followed by welded pipe exports totaling 934,000 mt, hot rolled flat steel exports amounting to 897,000 mt, and steel section exports reaching 743,000 mt.
In June alone, Turkey's steel exports increased by 23 percent year on year to 1.6 million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $909.3 million, down 10 percent compared to the same month of 2015.
“In the first half of this year, Turkey’s exports to Egypt continued to increase, which, together with the recovery in the Israeli and UAE markets, reflected a positive impact on our steel exports. In particular, our steel exports to Egypt increased by 90 percent year on year to 792,200 mt and this gives hope to our steel exporters for the second half of this year,” commented CIB chairman Namık Ekinci.