Turkish companies exported 2.72mn mt of rebar in the first six months of 2020 compared with 2.70mn mt in H1 2019, marking no significant change this year despite the COVID-19 pandemic in the global market.
Yemen remained the main outlet for Turkish producers, according to Turkish statistical source SteelData. Rebar shipments to the country totaled 557,000mt over the period under review, up 11.7pc compared with the previous year. Turkish rebar export to Israel decreased by 4.2pc to 367,000 mt.
Rebar sales from Turkey to the USA started to recover in H1 2020. During this period, Turkey exported 290,000mt of rebar to the US compared with 18,000mt in January-June 2019.
The next important buyer was Singapore, however, shipments to the country decreased by 2.1pc to 184,000mt, according to SteelData. Turkish rebar export to Hong Kong surged three times to 155,000mt in the first half of 2020.
Below are the top 10 destinations for rebar shipments from Turkey:
Top 10 rebar destinations
| Country | Rebar volume (mt) | |
| H1 2020 | H1 2019 | |
| Yemen | 557,000 | 499,082 |
| Israel | 367,000 | 383,220 |
| USA | 290,000 | 17,820 |
| Singapore | 184,000 | 187,926 |
| Hong Kong | 155,000 | 50,220 |
| Ethiopia | 114,000 | 106,123 |
| Djibouti | 78,000 | 87,263 |
| Jamaica | 64,000 | 77,179 |
| The Netherlands | 53,000 | 76,179 |
| Iraq | 51,000 | 45,541 |
| Total | 2,716,066 | 2,696,280 |
Source: SteelData