Turkey’s scrap imports in June up 0.5 percent from May

In June this year, Turkey’s scrap imports increased again both month on month and year on year.

The import volume in June alone came to 2,040 million mt, up approximately 0.5 percent month on month, according to the data provided by the Turkish Steel Producers' Association (TCUD). During the January-June period this year, increasing finished steel prices in the international market and Turkish steelmakers’ full order books both for long and flat steel products led to a gradual rise in scrap import tonnages.

During the January-June period, Turkey's steel scrap import volume increased by 32.6 percent year on year to 12.868 million metric tons. The value of these imports exceeded $5.369 million, up 100.8 percent year on year. Looking at Turkey’s scrap imports in June in detail, the EU maintained its number one position among suppliers of Turkey’s scrap imports with a 55.3 percent share, followed by the US with 13.8 percent and then the UK with a 10.9 percent share. It is noteworthy that Turkey’s scrap imports from the US indicated a 9.7 percent decrease year on year in the first six months of the current year, though this was improvement from the 10.5 percent decrease year on year recorded in May.

The main sources of Turkey’s scrap imports in January-June 2021 can be seen in the table below:

The number of import scrap bookings for July shipments is expected to be higher than for June shipments and is foreseen to indicate a rise year on year. Turkey’s scrap imports had totaled 2.384 million mt in July 2020.