According to the data provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), in the first 10 months of the current year Turkey's pre-painted galvanized iron (PPGI) imports amounted to 65,669 mt, increasing by 72.17 percent, while the revenue from these imports rose to $75 million, up 35.37 percent, both compared to the same period of 2012. Turkey's PPGI imports in 2012 had totaled 43,613 metric tons.
In October this year, Turkey's PPGI imports surged by 286.82 percent year on year to 12,916 metric tons and were up 51.10 percent month on month. The value of these imports amounted to $13.53 million, up 164.53 percent year on year and rising by 47.53 percent month on month.
The strong increase in Turkey's PPGI imports was influenced by exporter countries' more competitive prices in the international market due to weak demand in their domestic markets. In the first 10 months of the current year, significant increases were seen in Turkey's PPGI imports from China and Italy. In the given period, Turkey's PPGI imports from China increased by 79.83 percent to 37,930 metric tons and PPGI imports from Italy rose by 47.50 percent to 11,517 metric tons, both compared with the same period of the previous year. In addition, Turkey's PPGI imports from China were up more than ninefold in October this year on year-on-year basis.
Turkey's top 10 PPGI import sources in the first 10 months of this year:
| Country | Volume (mt) | |||
| Jan-Oct. 2013 | Jan-Oct. 2012 | Oct. 2013 | Oct. 2012 | |
| China | 37,93 | 21,145 | 8,968 | 975 |
| Italy | 11,517 | 7,808 | 990 | - |
| India | 5,36 | - | 1,728 | 1,352 |
| Belgium | 2,746 | 1,308 | 11 | 482 |
| Germany | 1,876 | 1,916 | 180 | 145 |
| Egypt | 1,838 | 634 | 529 | - |
| Austria | 993 | 500 | 79 | 84 |
| UK | 624 | 654 | 129 | 63 |
| S. Korea | 600 | 2,049 | - | 150 |
| Spain | 423 | 991 | 24 | 46 |
Turkey's main PPGI import sources on country basis in January-October this year are presented in the chart below:
