According to the provisional foreign trade statistics compiled by the Turkish Statistical Institute and the Turkish Undersecretariat of Customs, in March this year Turkey's foreign trade deficit decreased 1.1% to USD 7.38 billion compared to USD 7.47 billion in March last year. In the iron and steel sector, Turkey's foreign trade deficit was USD 483 million in March, decreasing from USD 612 million recorded in March 2012.

In March this year, Turkey's iron and steel exports totaled USD 1.1 billion, increasing by 17% over February and up 6.1% YoY. Iron and steel ranked third among the products of the country with the highest export value, while motor vehicles and parts was the sector with the highest export value in March with USD 1.5 billion.

Meanwhile, in March exports of articles of iron or steel, which ranked 7th among the products with the highest export value, rose by 11.2% MoM and were up 2.8% compared to March 2012, amounting to USD 541.5 million.

In the first quarter of the current year, the country's iron and steel exports stood at USD 2.8 billion, while its exports of articles of iron or steel amounted to USD 1.5 billion, decreasing by 2.2% and up 1.6% respectively, both compared to the corresponding period of 2012.