Turkey increased steel exports by 11.3% y/y in April

In April, Turkey increased its steel exports by 11.3% year-on-year to 1.3 million tonnes. The value of these exports rose by 9.3% year-on-year, reaching $885.5 million. This was reported by SteelOrbis, citing data from the Turkish Steel Producers’ Association (TCUD).

However, aggregate figures for January–April indicate a slight decline in foreign trade:

1. Total steel exports fell by 3.3% (to 4.79 million tonnes), whilst their value decreased by 5.5% year-on-year (to $3.17 billion).
2. Exports of flat steel products for the first four months amounted to 1.94 million tonnes (a decrease of 8.0% year-on-year).
3. Exports of long products amounted to 2.57 million tonnes (a decrease of 2.1% year-on-year).
4. Exports of semi-finished products, by contrast, showed rapid growth of 28.5%, reaching 273,674 tonnes.

Imports of steel products into Turkey picked up significantly in April: shipment volumes rose by 17.7% (to 1.58 million tonnes), whilst their customs value increased by 7.8% (to $1.08 billion) compared with April last year.

For the period from January to April, import trends are as follows:

1. Total steel imports rose by 6.3% to 5.93 million tonnes, whilst their value increased by 0.9% – to $4.05 billion.
2. Imports of flat steel products amounted to 2.82 million tonnes (+4.4% year-on-year).
3. Imports of long products amounted to 506,076 tonnes (-1.0% year-on-year).
4. Imports of semi-finished products rose by 10.1%, reaching 2.59 million tonnes.

In the first four months of the year, the import-to-export coverage ratio (the ratio of steel exports to imports) in Turkey fell from 83.44% (recorded last year) to 78.16%.

Imports accounted for 43.7% of total domestic consumption of steel products in the first four months of this year. At the same time, 60% of all imports were carried out under the inward processing customs procedure.

Overall, in April this year, steel production in the country rose by 9.4% y-o-y – to 3.29 million tonnes. Over the four-month period, the figure increased by 6.3% y-o-y – to 13 million tonnes. Billet production in April amounted to 1.94 million tonnes (+3.5% y-o-y; for January–April – 7.7 million tonnes, which is 0.4% less y-o-y. Slab output for the past month reached 1.34 million tonnes (+19.2% y-o-y), and for the first four months – 5.34 million tonnes (+17.6% y-o-y).

During April, rolled steel consumption in Turkey showed steady growth – up 12.0% y-o-y – to 3.34 million tonnes. Overall, for January–April, domestic consumption of finished products in the country increased by 9.7% y-o-y and amounted to 13.22 million tonnes.

It should be noted that, in  2025, Turkey’s steelmakers increased steel production by 3.3% compared with 2024, to 38.12 million tonnes. Pig iron production in the country fell by 4.6% year-on-year last year, to 9.71 million tonnes.