The Turkish Steel Exporters Association (CIB) held more than 300 bilateral business meetings during the visit of its industry trade delegation to Latvia and Lithuania on October 4-9, 2026. According to a report published by the Turkish newspaper Ekonomim, the Turkish steel industry intends to double its market share in the Baltic States, where the supply structure has changed after the Russian-Ukrainian war, in the medium term.
A total of 19 Turkish steel producers and exporters participated in meetings in Riga and Vilnius with representatives of more than 70 importers and trading companies from the region. These meetings laid the foundation for a potential $100 million increase in business volume.
Turkey becomes the second largest supplier of steel in Литву
Yavuz Kilic, a member of the CIB Supervisory Board, stated that the Baltic countries do not have domestic steel production and depend on imports. Noting that before the Russo-Ukrainian war, Russia was the largest supplier of steel to the region, Kilic said that before the war Latvia received 60-65 percent of its steel imports from Russia.
According to CIB, in 2025, steel imports to Lithuania amounted to 1.45 million tons. Turkey ranks second in the country in terms of steel supplies after Poland, exporting 148,404 million tons, which is 10.2 percent of total steel imports to Lithuania. Meanwhile, steel imports to Latvia in 2025 amounted to 719,000 tons, while direct imports from Turkey exceeded 22,000 tons.
Taking into account supplies to the region through Lithuania, Turkish steel exporters intend to double their total presence in the Latvian and Lithuanian markets in the medium term. The main products in demand in the region are rebar, welded pipes and hot-rolled flat products. steel products.
EU quotas limit steel exports from Турции
Speaking about the trade barriers faced by the Turkish steel industry, Mr. Kilic said that the EU's protective measures on steel imports and quota cuts they restrict exports. He noted that Turkey does not face problems related to product quality or finding buyers in the EU market, but that the main obstacle is the inability to export large volumes due to existing quotas being quickly exhausted.
Г- Kilic also said that the delivery time for European manufacturers has increased to three to four months, and prices have increased, suggesting that European buyers may want to import goods from Turkey. despite the need to pay a fee exceeding the quota.
Attention was also drawn to the uncertainty surrounding the carbon boundary adjustment mechanism, while Turkey's electric arc furnace-based structure was noted as an advantage over its Far Eastern competitors in terms of low-carbon steel production.
A potential business volume of 1 billion is planned for the Istanbul steel summit долларов
About 500 Senior industry representatives from more than 50 countries are expected to attend the Steel Networking Summits event, which will be hosted by CIB in Istanbul on October 25-27, 2026. The event will focus on trade wars, green transformation, artificial intelligence, and global supply chains.
Through meetings with customer delegations that will take place during the event, the organizers plan to lay the foundation for a potential business increase of at least $ 1 billion.
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