According to the data provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), Turkey's seamless pipe imports decreased further in April this year, declining to the lowest level recorded since October 2010, following the low volumes recorded in the first quarter. In April, Turkey's seamless pipe imports fell 45.3 percent compared to March and were down 22.2 percent compared to April 2012, amounting to 10,412 metric tons. However, in the first four months of the current year Turkey's seamless pipe imports totaled 58,397 mt, increasing three percent compared to the same period of 2012.
In April this year, Turkey's seamless pipe imports from the CIS amounted to 3,763 mt, remaining below the level of 4,000 mt which has not been exceeded since July last year, while the EU exported of 4,160 mt of seamless pipes to Turkey in April, decreasing by 4.8 percent from the same month of 2012.
On the other hand, the decrease in April in Turkey's seamless pipe imports was due to the declining import volume from China, Turkey's largest seamless pipe import source since 2009. The country's seamless pipe imports from China amounted to 2,402 metric tons in April, down 79 percent compared to the previous month and down 40 percent year on year.
Turkey's seamless pipe import distribution with respect to source countries in the first four months of 2013 is as follows:
