Turkey's crude steel production jumps in October

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's crude steel production this October jumped 19.4% from same month last year, a trade group data said on Wednesday.

Production totaled 3.2 million tons in the month, the Turkish Steel Producers' Association (TCUD) said.

"The figure raised optimistic expectations for the last months of the year," it said.

The volume of the country's steel product exports slipped 1.6% to 1.5 million tons during the same period.

Turkey's earnings from steel exports fell marginally to $791 million in October.

But steel imports rose 2.2% to 963,000 tons, while in terms of value, they dropped 3.1% to $628 million.

Citing World Steel Association (worldsteel) data, the group said global crude steel output this October rose 7% year-on-year to 161.9 million tons.

- January-October figures

Some 29.1 million tons of crude steel were produced in Turkey this January-October, an annual rise of 4.2%.

The country's steel exports dropped 10.5% to 13.3 million tons while imports surged 8.2% to 10.4 million tons in the same period.