According to the Turkish Steel Producers Association (TCUD), Turkish steel exports grew by 12.5% year-on-year in 2025, reaching 15.1 million tons. The value of these shipments rose by 4.3% to $10.2 billion. Simultaneously, steel imports into the country increased by 8.6% to 18.9 million tons. A key driver behind Turkey's strengthened market position has been the active utilization of low-cost imported semi-finished products. For the international and Ukrainian markets, this signifies intensified export pressure from Turkey, particularly in the rolled steel, pipe, and semi-finished product segments.
What’s Behind the Growth of Turkish Steel Exports
Turkish manufacturers have gained a significant competitive edge through access to affordable raw materials. In 2025, the country imported 4.25 million tons of steel billets, a 17.9% increase compared to the previous year, with the import value rising to $2.11 billion. The largest supplier of billets was Russia, providing 1.05 million tons—a 50.3% year-on-year increase.
Data from BigMint shows that by late 2025, Russian billets from Black Sea ports were offered at $435–$440 per ton FOB. These price levels allowed Turkish metallurgists to reduce the production cost of finished rolled steel and compete more aggressively in foreign markets. This trend is further supported by growth in Turkey's domestic steel production, which increased by 3.3% in 2025 and maintained positive dynamics into early 2026.
In contrast, the global market appears weaker. World Steel Association data indicates that global steel production fell by 2% in 2025 to 1.8 billion tons, with China’s output decreasing by 4.4%. Consequently, Turkey remains one of the few major regional players simultaneously increasing production, raw material imports, and finished steel exports.
Impact on the Metal Market and Solutions from winox.ua
This trend has a direct impact on the Ukrainian market. According to the State Customs Service, steel imports from Turkey reached 823.56 thousand tons in 2025. In the first three months of 2026 alone, imports totaled 188.93 thousand tons. This highlights the sustained presence of Turkish metal in the Ukrainian market while domestic producers face challenges from war-related logistics constraints and reduced smelting volumes.
Cheaper imported resources allow Turkish suppliers to compete aggressively on price, complicating the recovery of domestic metallurgy positions. In such an environment, industrial consumers prioritize not just price, but supply stability, predictable specifications, and technical compliance. As a supplier of rolled steel, stainless steel, and non-ferrous metals, winox.ua focuses on establishing reliable supply channels to help businesses mitigate procurement risks during periods of high market volatility.
For manufacturing companies, construction contractors, and metalworking enterprises, this necessitates a more careful evaluation of procurement structures. As import pressure intensifies, supply diversification strategies become more critical than short-term savings. A practical approach involves choosing partners who can ensure predictable metal quality and consistent shipping schedules.
What This Means for the 2026 Competitive Landscape
The Turkish market remains one of the largest in the region, with domestic consumption of rolled products estimated at 35.9 million tons by TCUD. The combination of high internal demand, production growth, and access to cheap semi-finished products creates a resilient export model. This provides Turkish companies with an extra buffer even amidst a general slowdown in the global steel sector.
The consequences are clear: competition in the metal product market is intensifying, and the price factor will continue to shape the structure of imports. Meanwhile, steel consumers must focus not only on cost but also on origin, technical characteristics, and supply reliability. In such a landscape, expert supplier selection by winox.ua becomes a vital component of a business's operational resilience.