Turkey: Ferrous Scrap Imports Up by 5% M-o-M in Feb'20

Turkey, world's largest ferrous scrap importer, has observed a slight increase in its scrap imports by 5% M-o-M in Feb'20, as the country imported at 1.78 MnT of scrap as compared to 1.7 MnT imported in Jan'20. On a yearly premise, the scrap imports witnessed a sharp increase by 89% as it imported 0.94 MnT during the same period a year ago in Feb'19.

The USA remained the largest scrap exporter to Turkey, which supplied 0.39 MnT in Feb'20 with a 22% share in total scrap imported by Turkey, increasing sharply by 22% M-o-M, as against 0.32 MnT exported in Jan'20. Netherlands stood in a second position with a 16% share, exporting 0.29 MnT scrap in Feb'20, up by 21% M-o-M.

Turkish imports of coal, iron ore, semi-finished and finish flat & long steel products decreased in Feb'20.

Coal: Turkish coal imports fell to a 7-month low during Feb'20, although the volume continued its growth Y-o-Y from the levels seen in the year-ago month. Colombia remained the largest coal supplier to Turkey in Feb'20. Exports by the country fell 17% M-o-M to 1.56 MnT but were up 16% Y-o-Y from 1.34 MnT in Feb'19. Russia (1.09 MnT), US (0.49 MnT) and Canada (0.08 MnT) were some of the other noticeable exporters in Feb'20.

Iron Ore: Turkey iron ore imports in Feb'20 remained stable at 0.64 MnT, as against 0.65 MnT of scrap imported in Jan'20. On a yearly basis, imports witnessed a sharp increase of 113% as compared to 0.3 MnT in Feb'19. Brazil stood the largest exporter of iron ore to Turkey at 0.32 MnT (up 10% M-o-M) as against 0.29 MnT a month ago (Jan'20) amid material availability crises. South Korea iron ore exports stood at 0.17 MnT followed by Sweden at 0.15 MnT.

Semi Finished: Semi-finished steel imports to Turkey fell by 36% M-o-M to 0.37 MnT imported in Feb'20 as against 0.58 MnT imported in Jan'20. On a yearly basis, imports sharply increased by 12% Y-o-Y from 0.33 MnT imported during the same period in Feb'19. Russia remained leading exporter to Turkey as it exported 0.22 MnT in Feb'20, down by 29% on a monthly basis as against 0.31 MnT exported in Jan'20. Another prominent exporter was Ukraine, which exported 0.10 MnT in Feb'20, down by 23% M-o-M.

Finish long: The country's Finish long steel imports observed decline on a monthly basis by 29% to 0.05 MnT imported in Feb'20, as against 0.07 MnT imported in Jan'20. On a yearly basis too, finish long imports increased by 25% from 0.04 MnT imported a year ago in Feb'19. Spain exported the largest quantity of finish long products to Turkey at 0.02 MnT in Feb'20.

Finish Flat: Turkish flat steel import, in Feb'20, tumbled by 12% on a monthly premise to 0.66 MnT in comparison with 0.75 MnT in the preceding month. The nation's imports from Russia stood at 0.19 MnT in Feb'20, declined by 6% as against 0.18 MnT a month ago. However, the same surged to 0.1 MnT in Feb'20 as compared to 0.07 MnT in Jan'20. Meanwhile, imports from South Korea doubled to 0.1 MnT in Feb'20 in contrast with 0.05 MnT in the preceding month. However, on a yearly premise, the same surged by 32 % in Feb'20 in contrast with 0.5 MnT in Feb'19.

Quantity in MT
Source: SteelMint Stats & Customs Data