Turkey's finished steel imports increase y-o-y in Jan-Jul'21

Finished steel imports (both longs and flats) into Turkey registered a significant increase y-o-y in the first seven months of CY'21 (Jan-Jul'21), as per customs data compiled by SteelMint.

Long steel imports rose by 65% y-o-y to 0.56 million tonnes (mn t) as compared to 0.34 mn t in the corresponding period last year (CPLY). Out of the total volumes, rebar accounted for 303,369 t, structures for 218,916 t and the remainder 34,429 t were wire rods.

Meanwhile, the country's flat steel imports went up by 23.6% y-o-y to 5.13 mn t in the period under review as against 4.15 mn t in CPLY. Out of total imports, HRC/plates were at 3.22 mn t, electrical steel at 825,525 t, galvanised steel at 389,018 t, CRC at 377,376 t and pipes/tubes at 226,071 t. The remainder 74,555 t were other steel products.

Spain, Russia leading exporters of finished steel

Spain continued to be the largest exporter of finished long steel to Turkey in Jan-Jul'21 with 126,643 t, down 14.5% y-o-y, as per SteelMint data.

Surprisingly, Russia overtook the UK to jump to the second position in top exporters' list in the period under review. The country supplied 73,730 t to Turkey, registering a whopping 152% increase y-o-y. Germany was the third largest exporter with 69,655 t, higher by 166% y-o-y. Other major exporters were the United Kingdom and Italy.

For finished flats, Russia was the largest exporter to Turkey with 1.55 mn t in Jan-Jul'21, followed by Ukraine at 799,593 t and China at 459,068 t. Other major exporters were South Korea and France.

Finished steel imports up y-o-y in Jul'21

Turkey's finished long steel imports almost doubled y-o-y to 59,873 t in Jul'21 as against 26,177 t in CPLY. On a monthly basis, the country's imports of the material were down 3.3% as against 85,673 t in Jun'21.

Finished flat steel imports of Turkey stood at 813,615 t in Jul'21, up 13.6% y-o-y compared to 715,705 t in Jul'20. The same, on a m-o-m basis, increased by 25.5% against 648,042 t in Jun'21.