According to the customs statistics provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), Turkey's billet imports amounted to 225,359 mt in April this year, rising 14.5 percent month on month and up 5.9 percent over April 2012. Meanwhile, the country's slab imports amounted to 148,543 metric tons in April, decreasing to its lowest level in six months. However, the slab import volume indicated a strong increase in April this year compared to the 20,252 mt recorded in the same month of 2012. Turkey's slab imports have been maintaining their high-volume trend, exceeding 150,000 mt in each month since since October last year.
In the first four months of the year, Turkey's billet imports amounted to 987,624 mt, rising 25.9 percent year on year, while its slab imports reached 675,703 mt, increasing strongly compared to the 162,338 mt recorded in the corresponding period of 2012. According to a statement released by the Turkish Iron and Steel Producers' Association (TCUD), in the first four months of the current year Turkey's steel billet output moved down by four percent to 8.5 million mt, while its slab output fell by 6.3 percent to 2.9 million mt, both on year-on-year basis.
Turkey's biggest slab import source in the first four months of the current year was Russia with 314,975 mt, while the UK followed Russia, exporting 183,624 mt of slab to Turkey in January-April this year. In April of the current year, there were no slab imports from the UK to Turkey. Meanwhile, Turkey's largest billet source in the first four months of the year was Ukraine with 517,290 mt, boosted by the February volume which constituted the highest monthly level since June 2009. Russia followed Ukraine with 256,609 mt, also boosted by the high volume recorded in February.