In the first five months of the current year, Turkey's steel exports totaled 7.9 million mt, down 6.9 percent year on year, while the value of these exports decreased by 5.4 percent year on year to $5.9 billion, according to the data released by the Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB). Meanwhile, in May this year Turkey's steel exports amounted to 1.6 million mt and the value of these exports increased by 1.5 percent year on year to $1.28 billion.
In the first five months, Turkey's main steel export destination was the Middle East, which received a total of 2.88 million metric tons, while Turkish steel exports to the EU amounted to 1.47 million metric tons. Turkey exported 907,000 metric tons of steel to North Africa and 810,000 metric tons to North America in the given period. On country basis, in the given period Turkey's main steel export destinations were Iraq, the US and the UAE, with 932,000 mt, 678,000 mt and 573,000 mt, respectively. The largest year-on-year increases in Turkish steel exports were recorded to the US, the UK, Israel, Morocco and the Netherlands, while the largest decreases were seen in export volumes to Saudi Arabia, Italy, Iraq, Oman and Libya.
On the other hand, in the first five months of this year, Turkey's main exported steel product was rebar with total rebar exports amounting to 3.45 million mt. Rebar was followed by steel pipe exports totaling 832,000 mt, steel section exports amounting to 800,000 mt and 702,000 mt of hot rolled flat steel product exports.
Turkish Steel Exporters' Association chairman Namik Ekinci commented, "In 2014, the Turkish steel sector is progressing in a cautious manner. We have started to compensate for the losses we had in the previous year, which occurred due to difficult operating conditions. At the end of this year, we expect Turkish steel exports to increase compared to 2013, reaching the goal of 18.5 million metric tons."
