Export figures for Turkish steel products are showing a positive trend. In June, export volumes rose by 28.4% year-on-year – to 1.7 million tonnes, whilst their value increased by 29.7% year-on-year, reaching $1.2 billion. This was reported by Daily Sabah, citing data from the Turkish Steel Producers’ Association (TCUD).
In the first half of the year, exports rose by 2.5% year-on-year in physical terms (to 7.8 million tonnes) and by 1.3% year-on-year in monetary terms (to $5.3 billion).
In June, exports to the Middle East surged by 80% year-on-year (to 212,600 tonnes), whilst those to South America jumped by 406% year-on-year (to 182,500 tonnes). The most dynamic markets over the first half of the year were the UK (+246% year-on-year, to 407,000 tonnes) and South America (+81% year-on-year, to 643,000 tonnes). At the same time, the EU market saw a decline: shipments to the European Union fell by 22% year-on-year to 2.6 million tonnes.
Imports of steel products in June fell by 0.8% year-on-year (to 1.8 million tonnes), whilst their value rose by 3.7% year-on-year ($1.2 billion). In January–June, the volume of imports rose slightly by 0.3% year-on-year (to 9.3 million tonnes), whilst their total value fell by 2.4% year-on-year – to $6.3 billion. As a result, the ratio of exports to imports improved from 80% to 83%.
In the first half of 2026, steel production in Turkey rose by 8.1% compared with the same period last year, reaching 19.8 million tonnes. In June alone, production volumes increased by 14.7% year-on-year – to 3.3 million tonnes. Domestic rolled steel consumption rose by 0.4% year-on-year in June (to 3.1 million tonnes), whilst for the first half of the year, growth reached 6.6% year-on-year (to 19.9 million tonnes).
As noted by TCUD Secretary-General Veysel Yayan, Turkey firmly holds its position as the world’s seventh-largest steel producer, ahead of Germany. The decline observed in the first five months of the year was offset by strong demand in June from the Middle East and South America.
According to Weysel Yayan, for further development, the Turkish steel sector needs to secure long-term financing to modernise its facilities, improve energy efficiency and transition to low-carbon production.
It should be noted that, by the end of 2025, Turkey’s steelworks had increased steel output by 3.3% compared with 2024, to 38.12 million. Pig iron output in the country fell by 4.6% year-on-year last year, to 9.71 million tonnes.
