According to the provisional foreign trade statistics compiled by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) and the Turkish Undersecretariat of Customs, in January this year Turkey's foreign trade deficit increased to $7.3 billion compared to $7.12 billion in January 2012. In the iron and steel sector, Turkey's foreign trade deficit was $625 million in January, decreasing from $747 million recorded in January 2012.

In January, the country's iron and steel exports stood at $843 million, increasing by 6.4 percent compared to the same month of the previous year and down three percent month on month. 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 January with $1.08 billion.

Meanwhile, in January exports of articles of iron or steel, which ranked ninth among the products with the highest export value, fell by 20 percent month on month and were up 8.5 percent compared to January 2012, amounting to $560 million.