Turkey's crude steel output up in April

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's crude steel production rose 2.6% on a yearly basis in April to reach 3 million tons, a trade association said on Monday.

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

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

During the same period, the volume of steel imports fell 20.4% to 1.2 million tons. In terms of value, crude steel imports dropped 26.4% year-on-year to $965 million.

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

Globally, crude steel production climbed 4.8% 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% year-on-year rise, leading to a total production of 315 million tons, worldsteel data showed.

Crude steel is an unrefined metal used in the construction industry.