In an attempt to allay worries, Steel and Iron Producers Association (DÇÜD) Secretary-General Veysel Yayan told the Anatolia news agency on Wednesday that Turkey’s iron and steel exports -- especially to neighboring countries -- are on the rise and that they are not pessimistic about the year ahead.
Even though an important share of the sector’s exports used to go to Dubai, exports to Dubai have been declining since the end of the global financial crisis, Yayan said. “Exports to Dubai dropped by one-third over time. This decline led several firms to North African or other countries. We predict that the impact of the debt crisis in Dubai will be very limited on the sector. We do not expect a sharp decline in exports,” he said, adding that the effect of the crisis has been minimal on the iron and steel bourse so far.
According to data provided by the İstanbul Steel and Iron Exporters Union, Egypt imported the largest amount of Turkish iron and steel in the January-October period of this year. Exports to Egypt amounted to 2.28 billion tons at a cost of $1.03 billion. Exports to the United Arab Emirates, which used to rank first in previous years, decreased by 69 percent in the first 10 months of the year compared to the same period of last year, and totaled 1.54 million tons. With a 188 percent increase in exports in the first 10 months of this year over the same period of 2008, Iraq came in third, after the UAE. Total exports of Turkish iron and steel companies to Iraq totaled 672,000 tons.
Libya also imported significant amounts of iron and steel from Turkey. Annual exports to the country were on average 40,000-45,000 tons in previous years; this figure climbed to 546,000 tons in the first 10 months of this year. Yemen, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia all increased the amount of iron and steel they import from Turkey.
