Turkey’s exports to Peru surged by 1,138 percent in August according to data from the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly, or TİM.
Turkish iron and steel industrialists from the northern province of Karabük paved the way for the record export figures to Peru, which reached $20 million. Turkish iron and steel industrialists’ exports to Peru posted a significant increase, from $94,000 to $20 million in one year, said TİM.
Industrialists from Karabük, a small province in the western Black Sea region, played an important role in the rise. After attending a business meeting of the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists, or TUSKON, in June, businesspeople from Peru visited nearly 10 Turkish steel mills and met with Turkish industrialists, establishing trade connections that triggered the rise in Turkish exports. Ahmet Ramazanoğlu, chairman of the Karabük and Safranbolu Businessmen’s Association, or KASİAD, said the association had invited Peruvian businesspeople to Karabük.
Noting the high quality standards of production in Karabük, he said Turkish industrialists also lowered their prices in order to compete with rivals such as China. “We did everything to establish trade connections with Peruvian businesspeople and started exporting our products to Peru nearly two years ago,” said Çağrı Güleç, the vice chairman of the board of Çağ Çelik, a Turkish steel producer that provides jobs to 350 people in Karabük.
Search for new markets
Highlighting that China has always been among the toughest competitors in the Peruvian market, Güleç said Turkish industrialists “created the opportunity with their high quality and reasonable prices.”
He also said Çağ Çelik had exported the highest number of products, followed by local companies such as Mescier and Kaptan.
Veysel Yayan, secretary general of the Turkish Iron and Steel Industrialists’ Association, said export markets were shrinking in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, a process that had forced Turkish industrialists to search for new markets.
Exports to Peru might be considered minor at the moment, but there is a great potential in the Andean economy, Yayan said, adding that the South American market would gain more importance for Turkish exporters soon.
Yayan also said there were various opportunities in Peru for Turkish iron and steel industrialists.
Brazil is the leading iron and steel exporter country to the Peruvian market, followed by China, Yayan said, adding that Turkey ranked third.
Peru imports nearly 2.2 million tons of steel and iron annually. “Turkey, meanwhile, has a market share of 15 percent,”
