In December, due to the seasonal factors affecting the construction industry, Turkey's steel bar exports reached their lowest monthly volume level for 2009 with a decrease of 8.26% compared to November.
According to the data provided by the Istanbul Mineral and Metals Exporters' Association, in December 2009 Turkey's total steel bar exports including rebar, amounted to 516,141 tonnes decreasing by 22.66% YoY and down by 8.26% MoM. Meanwhile, the revenue generated by these exports totaled USD 241.6 million, declining by 22.19% compared to December 2008 and down 8.56% MoM.
In December, the average export price of Turkish steel bar amounted to USD 468 per tonne down USD 1.66 per tonne or 0.35% from November levels and up USD 2.85 per tonne or 0.61% from December last year.
Turkey's top ten steel bar export destinations in December 2009:
| \Country | Quantity |
| Yemen | 109,573 |
| UAE | 80,891 |
| Libya | 52,095 |
| Iraq | 44,457 |
| Egypt | 39,457 |
| Peru | 27,088 |
| Brazil | 24,346 |
| Israel | 23,001 |
| Ethiopia | 15,192 |
| Turkmenistan | 10,670 |
In tonnes
On the other hand, in 2009 Turkey's steel bar exports slid 14.12% YoY to 8.98 million tonne, totaling a value of USD 4.09 billion down 55.37% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
In the January to December period, Egypt was Turkey's number one steel bar export destination with exports totaling 2.33 million tonnes. However, steel bar exports to Egypt showed a steady decrease in the April to November period of 2009, while in December a significant increase was registered. Egypt is followed by the UAE with 1.71 million tonnes of steel bar exports. Steel bar exports to Iraq during this period amounted to 776,877 tonnes while exports to Libya reached 625,883 tonnes.
(Sourced from Steel Orbis)
