Turkish steel sector contributes to surge in exports in 2008.

Mr Kursad Tuzmen, state minister of Turkey said that Turkey surpassed its year end target of USD 125 billion in exports as of December 22nd 2008.

Mr Tuzmen said that "The global crisis caused an inestimable shrinkage in world markets. Accordingly, exports have dropped in recent months; however, we have succeeded in surpassing our targets in exports for 2008. Our target was USD 125 billion. As of December 22nd 2008 our exports reached USD 125.7 billion."

He added that "Exports by the automotive sector reached USD 24.5 billion, exports in the iron steel sector reached USD 19.1 billion and exports from the textile sector reached USD 15.4 billion.”

Mr Tuzmen further said that “We are taking some measures to lessen the impacts of the crisis. We rely on our commercial relations with African, Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Asian countries since those countries were less affected by the crisis."

It may be noted that exports by China, Germany, India and Japan fell considerably. Analysts expect a 2.1%narrowing in world markets in 2009.