Turkish steel exports shift to the Americas as EU sales fall 22%

Turkish steel exports rose in both volume and value in the first eight months of 2026, but the geography of those sales changed sharply. The European Union, the sector's largest and most traditional market, was the only main destination to contract, according to Turkish Steel Producers Association (TÇÜD) data reported by Dünya and Doviz.com.

Steel product exports reached 1.3 million tonnes in August, up 8.1 percent year on year, while export value rose 12.7 percent to 930.3 million dollars. Over the January-August period, volumes increased 3.1 percent to 10.3 million tonnes and revenue climbed 2.9 percent to 7 billion dollars.

EU shipments down 22 percent

TÇÜD Secretary General Veysel Yayan said exports to the European Union fell 22 percent in the first eight months of the year. Both Dünya and Doviz.com note that the bloc was the only major market where Turkish steel exports declined over that period.

The EU's new steel safeguard system, in force since 1 July 2026, has tightened the terms of access. The duty-free import quota is capped at 18.3 million tonnes a year, and volumes above the quota face an additional customs duty of 50 percent. The regime covers suppliers outside the European Economic Area; countries with free trade agreements are subject to different quota allocation terms, but Turkey still faces the new volume limits.

Neither outlet attributes the full 22 percent decline to the quota. Weakness in EU sales was already visible in the first half of the year, with the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, soft European demand, high energy costs and rising protectionist measures listed as additional factors. The quota added a further constraint in the second half.

South America, the US, Egypt and Yemen take up the volume

Exports to South America rose 67 percent to 849,000 tonnes in the first eight months. August country data from ISSB, cited by both publications, show finished steel shipments to the United States up 954.7 percent year on year at 107,000 tonnes, despite continuing antidumping and countervailing duty measures and new investigations targeting some groups of Turkish steel products in the US market.

August finished steel shipments by destination:

• United States: 107,000 tonnes, up 954.7 percent
• Egypt: 102,000 tonnes, up 221.2 percent
• United Kingdom: 80,000 tonnes, up 23.1 percent
• Yemen: 56,000 tonnes, up 355.9 percent

Dünya cautions that the ISSB finished steel scope and the TÇÜD total steel trade scope are not identical, so headline tonnages from the two data sets are not directly comparable. The country-level ISSB figures are used to track the direction of shipments rather than absolute totals.

Europe is not moving in one direction

Within Europe, demand diverged by country in August. Finished steel exports to Italy fell 26.5 percent year on year to 100,000 tonnes and shipments to Romania dropped 16.5 percent to 68,000 tonnes. Spain moved the other way, rising 20.2 percent to 81,000 tonnes, with weak domestic production cited as one of the main supports for demand for Turkish material.

Dünya argues that August data should therefore not be read as a uniform movement across Europe, while the 22 percent drop over the eight-month total still points to a clear loss of position in the sector's main market.

Trade balance improves ahead of the next review

The shift coincided with a better trade balance for the sector. Steel exports covered 83 percent of steel imports in the first eight months of this year, up from 77 percent in the same period last year.

The European Commission opened a new monitoring process at the end of September to assess the first three months of the new steel regulation, covering industry representatives, exporters and third-country administrations. Data released in the coming months will show how durable the gains in the United States and South America are, and how much of the lost European volume can be recovered elsewhere.