In the January-February period of the current year, Turkey's steel exports increased by 12.6 percent year on year to 3.2 million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $1.8 billion, up 31.3 percent on year-on-year basis, according to the data released by the Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB).
In the January-February period, Turkey's main steel export destination was the EU, which received 848,000 mt of steel products from Turkey, rising by 86 percent year on year. The EU was followed by the Middle East, North America and North Africa, which imported 755,000 mt, 526,000 mt and 302,000 mt of Turkish steel products respectively. In the given period, Hong Kong, the US, Spain, Italy and Yemen recorded the highest year-on-year increases in steel product imports from Turkey.
Meanwhile, in the January-February period this year, Turkey's main exported steel product was rebar with total exports amounting to 1.3 million mt. Rebar was followed by hot rolled flat steel exports amounting to 337,000 mt, welded pipe exports totaling 298,000 mt, wire rod imports amounting to 290,000 mt and steel section exports reaching 233,000 mt. In the given period, exports of wire rod and billet showed the highest year-on-year increases in volume.
In February alone, Turkey's steel exports went up by 7.8 percent year on year to 1.7 million mt, while the value of these exports totaled $950 million, up 27.5 percent compared to the same month of the previous year.
“When we compare the first two months of this year with the same periods of the last four years, we have achieved the highest export volume. The most positive development in our sector is that we became a net exporter again as of December 2016,” commented CIB chairman Namık Ekinci.