According to the customs statistics provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), Turkey's billet imports amounted to 315,952 mt in May this year, rising 40.2 percent month on month and more than double compared to May 2012.
Meanwhile, the country's slab imports amounted to 118,376 metric tons in May, indicating a second consecutive decrease on month-on-month basis and falling to the lowest level in seven months. On the other hand, there were no slab imports recorded in Turkey in the same month of 2012. Turkey's slab imports had maintained a high-volume trend in the October 2012-March 2013 period, exceeding 150,000 mt in each month during this period.
In the first five months of the year, Turkey's billet imports amounted to 1.3 million mt, rising 39.4 percent year on year, while its slab imports reached 794,079 mt, up 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 January-May this year Turkey's steel billet output moved down by 3.3 percent to 10.8 million mt, while its slab output fell by 6.2 percent to 3.6 million mt, both on year-on-year basis.
Turkey's biggest slab import source in the first five months of the current year was Russia with 334,875 mt, followed by the UK with 229,629 mt, boosted by the volume of 93,028 mt recorded in the month of March. In May of the current year, Turkey's slab imports amounted to 46,000 mt.
Meanwhile, Turkey's largest billet source in the first five months of the year was Ukraine with 692,481 mt, boosted by the February and May volumes which both exceeded 175,000 mt. Russia followed Ukraine with 365,389 mt, also boosted by high volumes recorded in February and May.
