Turkish steel product shipments falters on weak export demand

Author: Paul Ploumis
12 Mar 2015 Last updated at 03:24:46 GMT
ANKARA (Scrap Monster): Lower buy demands from key export destinations have slowed down shipments of steel products from Turkey during the initial months of 2015. This is in accordance with the export statistics released by the Turkish Steel Exporters Association (CIB). The exports which had dropped during January this year, has further declined during February.

The steel products exports from Turkey totaled 1.4 million t during the month of February this year, 10% lower when compared with the previous year. The Turkish steel products shipment had totaled 1.56 million t during February 2014. Also, the export revenues dropped 20.6% to $943 million during the month.

The top export destination of Turkish finished steel products was the Middle East region. The exports to the region totaled 1.115 million t during the month, accounting for 42% of the total exports. The shipments to the region achieved 7.1% increase during the month. The other key export destinations were North America (501,000 t, 19% share), EU (313,000 t, 12%), Central and South America (223,000 t, 9%), North Africa (221,000 t, 9%) and other regions (227,000 t, 9%).

Product-wise, construction steel topped the list with sales of 1.34 million t, followed by pipes (285,000 t) and sections (255,000 t).

The cumulative steel product shipments by the country during the initial two-month period of the year totaled 2.6 million t, almost 13% down when compared with the corresponding two-month period in 2014. The export sales revenue slumped by 21.3% year-on-year to $1.8 billion. The drop in revenue was mainly due to huge price drops of key product items. In addition, the worsening political and economic situation in the country too contributed to demand de-growth in steel products segment.