Turkey Steel Imports Statistics: July'19

Turkey, the world's largest ferrous scrap importer, has observed a sharp increase in ferrous scrap, semi finished, finish flats & finished long imports in July'19, whereas, coal & iron ore imports decreased in the month, as per recent data released by the customs department.

Tukey's crude steel output incline slightly in Jul'19 and stood at 2.93 MnT, up by 8% M-o-M as compared to 2.7 MnT in Jun'19, while on a yearly basis the production fall to 3.27 MnT during the same period a year ago, down by 10% Y-o-Y.

Ferrous scrap: Turkey witnessed an increase in ferrous scrap imports by 42.3% M-o-M to 1.83 MnT in July'19 as compared to 1.29 MnT in June'19. Meanwhile, on yearly premises, the same has observed a decrease by 4 % Y-o-Y from 1.91 MnT during the same period a year ago. Successive downturn in imported scrap offers in June'19 may have resulted in sharply increased bookings for Jul'19 delivery at lowered prices.

Prices for bulk HMS 1&2 (80:20) from USA dropped throughout the month in June'19, from around USD 306/MT CFR in the beginning of the month to USD 286/MT CFR levels by June'19 end.

Country-wise: Turkey imported its largest volume of ferrous scrap from the USA with a share of 18%, as it imported 0.34 MnT in July'19 up by 30% M-o-M as against 0.26 MnT imported in June'19. Followed by other prominent suppliers like Russia (0.28 MnT, up by 64%) & United Kingdom (0.21 MnT, up by 4%) in July'19 with a share of with 15% & 11% respectively.

Coal: Turkish coal imports have dropped 26% M-o-M to 2.53 MnT in Jul'19 against 3.4 MnT in Jun'19, to record its lowest monthly total since Apr'17. Besides, coal volumes had suffered its heaviest fall y-o-y for the CY19, as it decreased 46% from 4.66 MnT noted in Jul'18. The country had witnessed slack demand for non-coking coal which had fallen below the 2 MnT mark for the first time since Apr'17. Apparently, intake from top supplier Colombia had reduced to half during the month, marked at 0.87 MnT in Aug'19. On the other hand, Turkish imports of coking coal grew 61% on the month to 0.61 MnT in Jul'19.

Country-wise: On the backdrop of hefty fall in supplies from Colombia, Russia emerged as the largest coal exporter to Turkey in Jul'19. Russian coal exports were marked 0.95 MnT in Jul'19 down 2% M-o-M from 0.97 MnT in Jun'19, which had also fallen 29% Y-o-Y from 1.33 MnT in Jul'18. Colombian coal exports stood 0.87 MnT in Jul'19 against 1.74 MnT in Jun'19, which had fallen 59% Y-o-Y from 2.13 MnT in Jul'18. Australia was the third-largest coal supplier during Jul'19, with exports of 0.43 MnT coal. Notably, the country had reported nil exports in the previous month.

Iron Ore: Turkey iron ore imports in July'19 witnessed at 0.74 MnT, down 34% as against 1.12 MnT in June'19. On a yearly basis, imports dropped 39% as compared to 1.22 MnT in July'18.

Country-Wise: Turkey iron ore imports from Brazil recorded at 0.24 MnT, down 59% amid supply constraints from Vale as against 0.59 MnT in June'19. Imports from Sweden and South Korea recorded at 0.17 MnT each.

Finish Flat: Turkey finish flat imports jumped by 21% in Jul'19 to 646,547 MT in comparison with 534,633 MT a month ago. Whereas on a yearly premise, the same witnessed marginally increase by 8% as against 599,834 MT in Jul'18. Turkey majorly imports finish flat steel from EU and CIS Nations. Meanwhile, domestic demand in both EU and CIS regions remained dull which led these nations to explore export options; in-turn resulting to a surge in imports in Turkey in Jul'19.

Country-wise: Turkey majorly imports flat steel from Russia which stood at 185,114 MT in Jul'19, witnessed a spike in comparison to 66,750 MT in the previous month. Following this Turkey also imported flat steel from Ukraine at 59,674 MT, France at 69,184 MT, Germany 62,268 MT, Romania at 31,848 MT and Netherlands at 11,061 MT in Jul'19.

Semi Finished: The country's semi finish imports witnessed a slight increase by around 7% M-o-M to 0.29 MnT in July'19 as compared to 0.27 MnT of imports reported in June'19. On a yearly basis, semin finished imports decreased by 21% Y-o-Y to 0.37 MnT during the same period in the preceding year, July'18.

Country-wise: Russia remains the largest exporter to Turkey as it exported 0.14 MnT of semi finished steel in July'19 witnessing a decrease by 33 % M-o-M as against 0.21 MnT semi finished steel exported in June'19. Imports from Ukraine sharply increased by 120% at 0.11 MnT in July'19 as against 0.05 MnT imported in June'19.

Finished Long: The country's finish long imports reported unchanged M-o-M with 0.06 MnT in July'19 same as the same quantity imported in June'19. On a yearly basis, finish long imports decreased by 25% Y-o-Y as against 0.08 MnT during the same period in the preceding year.

Country-wise: Spain supplied the largest quantity of finish long at 0.02 MnT in July'19, witnessing an increase by 100% M-o-M as against 0.01 MnT exported a month ago in June'19. Followed by the other suppliers like Russia & United Kingdom reported at 0.01 MnT each in July'19, down 100% M-o-M and remains unchanged M-o-M. However, Iran has reported a nil volume of finished long steel to Turkey during the month.

Quantity in MnT,
Source: SteelMint Stats