Turkey’s flat steel imports fall in July

According to the data provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), in July this year Turkey's flat steel imports, including hot rolled, cold rolled, coated and narrow strip steel, fell by 8.4 percent compared to the previous month and were down seven percent compared to July 2011, totaling 412,759 metric tons. The value of these imports amounted to $299.7 million, decreasing by 13 percent as compared to June this year and down 20.9 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, in the first seven months of the current year Turkey's flat steel imports amounted to 2.85 million metric tons, decreasing 5.3 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2011.

In the first seven months, Turkey's hot rolled flat steel imports from Ukraine amounted to 652,475 metric tons, increasing by 12.2 percent year on year. Turkey's second biggest source of hot rolled flat steel imports in January-July this year was Russia with 499,708 metric tons, down 36.1 percent compared to the same period of 2011. Meanwhile, Turkey's hot rolled flat steel imports from the EU amounted to 1.5 million mt in the first seven months, rising by 15.4 percent year on year.