Turkey's steel product exports rise 6 percent

Steel exports increased by 6.1 percent in September 2014 compared to the previous year, according to statistics released by the Turkish Metallurgical Association. During the month, steel exports amounted to 1.45 million tons. The value of this export in monetary terms also increased by 5.2 percent year on year to $ 1.3 billion.

According to the data, the country's long steel product exports increased by 0.7 percent over the previous year to 870,000 tons. Exports of flat products increased significantly in September 2014 and reached 183,000 tonnes. The growth was 56 percent. In addition, the export of steel pipe increased by 16 percent compared to September 2013 and amounted to 177,000 tons. However, the export of steel billets from the country had a sharp decline, almost 30 percent over the previous year, and amounted to 42,000 tons.

Total exports of steel products from the country in the nine months of this year amounted to 13.61 million tons, down 5.3 percent compared to exports during the corresponding nine-month period last year. The export value decreased by 2.9 percent on an annualized basis to $ 11.550 billion.

During the nine months, exports of Turkish flat products also fell 0.8 percent year on year to 1.84 million tonnes. Exports of semi-finished products fell by 63 percent during the year, reaching only 501,000 tons. On the other hand, the export of slabs was 25,000 tons, compared with no export in the corresponding nine months of 2013.