Turkish steel exports growing despite US sanctions

WIth the right market selection strategy, Turkish companies have seen their nine-month steel exports, one of the sectors most affected by the increasing global protectionist trend, primarily emerging from the U.S., again reach $11 billion after six years. The "trade war," incited between the U.S. and China after the increase in tariffs on the steel and aluminum sector in March, has come out as the most important issue on the agenda this year. The Turkish steel industry closed the gap, which occurred with the decline in export volume to the U.S., thanks to an increase in exports to Europe.

While there was a visible increase in exports by the Turkish steel industry, the nine-month foreign sales volume increased by 25.4 percent year-on-year to some $10.97 billion compared to $8.18 billion in the January-September period of 2017. The last time that the industry was over $11 billion in its nine-month exports was in 2012.

When looking at the sector's sales abroad in the first nine months of this year, the largest decline in quantity was observed for the U.S. The steel exports to the country decreased by $199.97 million to $732.28 in this period, a decrease of 27.1 percent year-on-year.

In terms of decline in the export volume, Turkmenistan ranked second with a decrease of $105.51 million.

In the said period, the Turkish steel industry's export volume to Italy rose by around $444.26 million, followed by Belgium and Spain with an increase of $248.6 million each. This has shown that European countries have overwhelmingly filled the steel export deficit resulting from the U.S.

On the other hand, the steel industry, which has delivered products to 280 export points, increased exports to 150 of them in the first nine months.

Steel Exporters' Association (ÇİB) Chairman of the Board of Directors Adnan Arslan said the most important factor underlying the success of the Turkish steel industry was quality and standards-appropriate production, competitive prices and exports carried out with early deliveries.

In terms of quantity, Turkey's steel exports rose 12.5 percent year-on-year to reach 11.4 million tons in the first nine months of the year, according to ÇİB data.

Aslan said they expect their year-end exports in terms of quantity to increase by 6.7 percent to 19 million tons and value to increase by 30 percent to $15 billion.