In the January-February period this year, Turkey's steel scrap import volume increased significantly by 59.6 percent on year on year to 3.484 million metric tons, according to the data provided by Turkish Steel Producers' Association (TCUD). The value of these imports totaled $986 million, up 42.9 percent year on year.
As compared to the January figures, Turkey’s scrap import volumes doubled in February, rising from 1.7 million mt to 3.484 million mt in terms of volume and increasing from $461 million to $986 million in terms of value.
In the first two months of the year, Turkey imported 2.199 million mt of scrap from the European Union (EU), up 67.2 percent year on year, while Turkey’s scrap imports from the US totaled 702,000 mt in the given period, up 75.5 percent year on year. The value of these imports have moved up by 49.3 percent and 58.5 percent in the same respective order.
The main sources of Turkey’s scrap imports in the first two months of the year can be seen in the graph below:
However, March figures are also expected to be high, while there is a big question mark hanging over the import scrap volumes booked for April and May deliveries due to the slowdown observed in Turkish mills’ production.