According to the data provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), in January this year Turkey's coking coal imports rose by 11.9 percent year on year but decreased to the lowest level recorded since January last year to 2 million mt. The January import volume was down 35.3 percent from December 2012, when the country's coking coal imports had exceeded 3 million mt. In the fourth quarter of 2012, Turkey's coking coal imports had increased as can be seen in the chart below.
Turkey's coking coal imports from Russia in January this year amounted to 759,764 mt, constituting the country's largest coking coal source in January, while imports from Russia decreased 15.5 percent compared to December last year and were almost stable year on year. The US exported 327,292 metric tons of coking coal to Turkey in January, increasing its exports for the second consecutive month on month-on-month basis.
Meanwhile, Turkey's coking coal imports from Colombia, which was the second largest coking coal source in 2012, decreased to 311,292 mt in January, compared to the 955,782 mt recorded in December last year.
Turkey's top coking coal import sources in January this year:
In 2012, Turkey's coking coal imports had totaled 28.4 million metric tons, increasing 25 percent compared to 2011.