Turkey's crude steel production up 5.9% in February

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey posted a 5.9% year-on-year rise in crude steel production in February, according to trade group data released on Thursday.

The production reached 3 million tons in February, the Turkish Steel Producers' Association (TCUD) said in a statement.

The volume of steel product exports slightly decreased by 0.8% to 1.3 million tons during the same period.

The country’s steel imports increased 19.5% to 13 million tons, while in terms of value they rose 40.5% to $874 million.

Pointing to the ongoing rise in the reading, the statement underlined that Turkey continued to be the seventh largest steel producer in the world.

The country's earnings from steel exports, however, jumped 22% on an annual basis to $826 million in February.

Citing World Steel Association (worldsteel) data, the group said global crude steel output this February rose 4.1% year-on-year to 150 million tons.

- 2-month figure

Some 6.4 million tons of crude steel were produced in Turkey in the first two months of this year, an annual rise of 9.4%.

The country's steel exports dropped 9.4% to 2.6 million tons while imports were up 0.3% to 2.4 million tons in the same period.