Turkey's steel imports amounted to 2,152,715 tonnes in the first three months of this year, up 2.5 percent. In the first quarter of 2022, it was 2,107,487 tonnes.
The increase in import volumes in March was mainly triggered by the large amount of steel booked from China and other Asian countries. However, most of this material was planned to be delivered before May 1, when import duties in Turkey were increased, but could not be completed due to the uncertainty caused by the elections to be held in Turkey on May 14.
Accordingly, more than 1 million tonnes of HRC were ordered from China in March. It is rumoured that flat steel demand in the Turkish import steel market has weakened due to the uncertainty before the general elections.
A weekly price assessment for HRC on CFR delivery terms showed that HRC prices for Turkey decreased by $30-70 per tonne from $630-680 per tonne on 21 April to $600-610 per tonne on 28 April.
The main suppliers of HRC in March 2023 were Russia, China and Japan with 119,310 tonnes, 81,946 tonnes and 66,418 tonnes, respectively.
The largest importer of CRC to Turkey was South Korea with 31,296 tonnes, while imports from Russia were 18,384 tonnes.
When the CRC market was evaluated on a weekly basis, prices were around $750-820 per tonne for CFR delivery on April 21, while the current prices were in the range of $700-750 per tonne on April 28. It was observed that prices decreased by around $50-70 per tonne during the week.
In addition, Turkey imported 24,328 tonnes of coated steel from South Korea and 15,849 tonnes from Belgium.
During the month, Turkey imported 57,413 tonnes of alloy flat steel in sizes larger than 600 mm from China, 40,739 tonnes from India and 19,969 tonnes from Russia.
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