Turkey: Ferrous Scrap Imports Down by 17% M-o-M in Jan'20

Turkey, world's largest ferrous scrap importer, has observed a fall in its scrap imports by 17% M-o-M in Jan'20, as the country imported at 1.7 MnT of scrap as compared to 2.04 MnT imported in Dec'19. On a yearly premise, the scrap imports witnessed a sharp increase by 37% as it imported 1.24 MnT during the same period a year ago, Jan'19.

The USA remained the largest exporter to Turkey, supplying 0.32 MnT scrap in Jan'20 with a 19% share in total scrap imported by Turkey, decreasing sharply by 33% M-o-M, as against 0.48 MnT exported in Dec'19. The Netherlands stood in a second position with 14% share, exporting 0.24 MnT scrap in Jan'20, slightly down by 4% M-o-M.

Turkish imports of coal, iron ore, semi-finished and finish flat decreased in Jan'20. Whereas, imports of finish long steel witnessed a slight increase in the month.

Iron Ore: Turkey iron ore imports in Jan'20 witnessed at 0.65 MnT, down 34% as against 0.98 MnT in Dec'19. On yearly basis, imports witnessed drop of 32% as compared to 0.95 MnT in Jan'19. Brazil stood the largest exporter of iron ore to Turkey at 0.29 MnT (down 50% M-o-M) as against 0.58 Mnt a month ago (Dec'19) amid material availability crises. Sweden iron ore exports stood at 0.17 MnT followed by Russia at 0.11 MnT. Imports from India rebounded to 0.08 Mnt in Jan'20 as against being nil a month ago.

Coal: Coal Imports Down 7% M-o-M in Jan'20Coal imports by Turkey have registered a drop of 7% on the month, whilst it continued the rise Y-o-Y for the fourth successive month during Jan'20. Data provided by customs indicate that the country had imported 3.98 MnT in Jan'20 as against 4.3 MnT in Dec'19, which was 16% higher on the year from 3.44 MnT in Jan'19.

The increased coal intake Y-o-Y reflected heightened utilization of plants running on imported coal, rather than lower-grade domestic material, due to the new environmental standards imposed on the country's lignite-fired plant fleet since the start of the year.

Coal supplies from the chief exporter-Colombia was down 7% M-o-M to 1.88 MnT in Jan'20, but had increased 44% Y-o-Y from 1.31 MnT in Jan'19. Russian coal exports also exhibited similar trends during the month, as it deceased 8% M-o-M, while rising 16% Y-o-Y to 1.38 MnT in Jan'20. US was the third-largest coal exporter in Jan'20, with supplies of 0.55 MnT.

Semi Finished: Semi-finished steel imports to Turkey fell by 22% M-o-M to 0.58 MnT in Jan'20 as against 0.74 MnT imported in Dec'19. On a yearly basis, imports sharply increased by 61% Y-o-Y from 0.36 MnT imported during the same period in Jan'19.

Russia remained leading supplier with 53% share in total semi-finished imported by Turkey as it exported 0.31 MnT in Jan'20, down by 33% on a monthly basis as against 0.46 MnT exported in Dec'19. Another prominent exporter was Ukraine, which exported 0.13 MnT in Jan'20, down by 43% M-o-M with a 22% share.

Finish long: The country's Finish long steel imports observed stability on a monthly basis at 0.07 MnT imported in Jan'20. On a yearly basis too, finish long imports remained stable from 0.07 MnT imported a year ago in Jan'19. Spain exported the largest quantity of finish long products in Nov'19 at 0.04 MnT with a 57% share in total finish long imported by Turkey.

Finish Flat: Finish flat steel imports to Turkey, observed a slight decrease by 3% to 0.75 MnT in Jan'20 as against 0.77 MnT of finish flat imported in Dec'19. However, on a yearly basis, imports have increased by 3% from 0.5 MnT imported in Jan'19. Russia supplied the largest quantity of finish flat steel at 0.19 MnT in Jan'20, decreasing by 14% M-o-M.

Quantity in MT
Source: SteelMint Stats & Customs Data