Turkey's crude steel production surges by 13.6 pct

By Dilara Zengin
ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's crude steel production increased 13.6 percent to 21.6 million tons in the first seven months of the current year, Turkish Steel Producers' Association (TCUD) announced Thursday.
According to the report by the association, Turkey became the country with highest increase in production of crude steel with 13.6 percent in January-July period.
Brazil followed Turkey with its 10.6 percent rise in the same period.
Global crude steel production climbed 4.6 percent in the first seven months of the year compared to the same period in 2016, reaching 977.3 million tons, the report stated.
The report revealed that China's production totaled 491.5 million tons, marking 5.1 percent increase in January-July period of 2017 compared to the same period last year.
Meanwhile, Turkey's steel export volume also surged 15.9 percent annually to reach nearly 11.2 million tons in the first seven months of 2017. The value of steel exports went up 27.4 percent to nearly $7.7 billion in the same period.
In the same period, steel imports to Turkey fell 18.1 percent to nearly 9.2 million tons yearly, while the value of these imports rose 1.4 percent to $6.7 billion.