Turkey’s semi-finished imports declined significantly in the January-November period last year, driven mainly by negative sentiment in the finished steel sectors, in longs in particular. In addition, domestic production was more efficient throughout most of last year, compared to purchases from the CIS.
Square billet imports to Turkey dropped by 46.7 percent year on year in the first 11 months of last year to 1.377 million mt, the Turkish Steel Producers’ Association (TCUD) reports. Such a significant drop resulted from the significant weakening of rebar sales, which led to an overall loss of 20.5 percent in production to 18.28 million mt. Turkey’s own billet production decreased by 16.7 percent in the January-November period last year to 19.07 million mt. “There will be no drastic change in 2020. As the rebar sector will hardly recover, mills will continue focusing on other sectors, keeping production reduced,” a trader told SteelOrbis.
In the HRC segment, the situation has been less challenging, and so steel slab imports decreased by 23.4 percent year on year in the first 11 months of 2019 to 1.452 million mt, TCUD data show. Domestic slab production inched up by 2.1 percent year on year to 11.79 million mt in the given period.
Lower finished steel production and problematic longs sales also impacted Turkey’s scrap purchases. In the January-November period, Turkey imported 16.816 million mt of scrap, down 2.2 million mt or 11.6 percent year on year, SteelOrbis has learned.