Steel output up in April

ANKARA

Turkey’s crude steel production rose 2.6 percent on a yearly basis in April to reach 3 million tons, a trade association said on June 10.

The country’s steel products exports also surged 22.7 percent year-on-year to reach 1.9 million tons in the month, said the Turkish Steel Producers’ Association (TÇÜD).

The value of steel exports totaled $1.4 billion in April, up 9.8 percent from the same month last year.

During the same period, the volume of steel imports fell 20.4 percent to 1.2 million tons.

In terms of value, crude steel imports dropped 26.4 percent year-on-year to $965 million.

In the first four months of this year, the country’s crude steel output declined 10.5 percent to 11.2 million tons.

In May, the United States anonunced that it slashed tariffs on Turkish steel imports to 25 percent from 50 percent.

Washington had doubled tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum imports last August amid a diplomatic row.

Globally, crude steel production climbed 4.8 percent from January to April compared to the same period in 2018, reaching some 600 million tons, according to the World Steel Association (worldsteel).

China kept the top spot among crude steel producers, with a 10.3 percent year-on-year rise, leading to a total production of 315 million tons, worldsteel data showed.