Turkey’s steel product exports up in June as US tariffs’ impact ‘limited’

İZMİR

Turkey’s exports of steel products climbed 34 percent to $1.2 billion year-on-year in June on a value basis, according to the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TİM).

In the first half of 2018, the country’s steel product exports also rose 22 percent from the same period last year, reaching $7.1 billion, indicated TİM data compiled by state-run Anadolu Agency on July 5.

While the highest steel exports in January-June were made to Italy and Spain, the U.S. - last year’s top destination for Turkish steel - tumbled to third.

Exports to the EU and the Middle East, the sector’s main markets, continued to rise significantly.

After U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial decision to raise steel tariffs, overall steel exports to the country fell 30 percent to $71.5 million in June, dropping 42 percent to $421 million in the first six months of the year.

In March, Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on imported iron and steel, and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum, causing rifts between the U.S. and its major trading partners.

Yalçın Ertan, head of the Aegean Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Metals Exporters’ Association, said “tariffs’ effect on Turkey was limited on value basis mainly due to a skyrocketing rise in steel products in the U.S. market after a temporary plunge in March.”

He also stressed that they expected to do some 1.5 million tons of exports by the end of the year.

“After quick adaptation to the new conditions, the current trend will continue till the end of the year if there are no changes in tariffs,” Ertan said.