In the first quarter of the current year, Turkey's steel exports totaled 4.6 million mt, down 11 percent year on year, while the value of these exports decreased by 8.9 percent year on year to $3.4 billion, according to the data released by the Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB). Meanwhile, in March this year Turkey's steel exports declined by 21.7 percent to 1.5 million mt and the value of these exports decreased by 18.5 percent to $1.1 billion, both year on year.
In the first three months this year, Turkey's main steel export destination was the Middle East which received a total of 1.64 million metric tons, while exports to the EU and North Africa amounted to 923,000 metric tons and 629,000 metric tons respectively. On country basis, in the given period Turkey's main steel export destinations were Iraq, the US and the UAE. The largest year-on-year increases were recorded in the UK, Morocco, Israel, Ethiopia and the UAE, while the largest decreases were registered in Saudi Arabia, Italy, Oman, Libya, and Singapore.
On the other hand, in the first quarter of this year, Turkey's main exported steel product was rebar with total rebar exports amounting to 2.48 million mt. Rebar was followed by steel section exports totaling 479,000 mt, steel pipe exports amounting to 472,000 mt and 411,000 mt of hot rolled flat steel product exports.
Turkish Steel Exporters' Association chairman Namik Ekinci commented, "The decrease in Turkey's steel exports is caused by the ongoing effects of the negative situations that we faced last year. We are not expecting these problems to disappear suddenly. However, we have some expectations of the government as regards overcoming this difficult period."
