Turkey’s crude steel production drops in Jan

ISTANBUL (AA): Turkey’s crude steel production fell by 19.5 percent on an annual basis in January, standing 2.6 million tons, the Turkish Steel Producers’ Association (TCUD) said on Monday.

In January, exports of the country’s steel products dropped by 18.2 percent to 1.9 million tons on the quantity basis, while exports rose by 10.1 percent to $1.4 billion on the basis of value.

Turkey’s imports of steel products saw a decline both in the quantity and value basis, down by 30.9 percent (963,000 tons) and 29.7 percent ($807 million), respectively, during January.

The rate of exports meeting imports in the country’s steel sector reached 174 percent in January, up from 112 percent in the same month 2018.

The World Steel Association data also showed that Turkey was the ninth largest crude steel producer in the world, with its January data.

China remained the world’s largest crude steel producer with over half of global output, according to the association’s report.

Crude steel production was 146.7 million tons in the global area during the first month of 2019, up 1 percent versus the same month 2018.

Crude steel is unrefined metal that is later worked for use in construction and industry.