In May this year, Turkey's slab imports amounted to 56,239 mt, down 63.06 percent month on month and decreasing by 52.49 percent year on year, according to the data provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK). The total value of Turkey's slab imports in the given month was $29.25 million, down 64.18 percent month on month and decreasing by 54.09 percent compared to May 2013. According to the data for May this year, the average price for Turkish slab imports in the given month was $520.09/mt, decreasing $16.19/mt from the average of $536.28/mt recorded in the previous month.
In the first five months of the current year, Turkey's slab imports decreased by 26 percent year on year to 587,735 mt. Meanwhile, the value of Turkey's slab imports in this period was $309.31 million, down 22.58 percent year on year.
In the first five months of this year, Turkey imported 346,218 metric tons of slab from the UK, up 50.77 percent year on year. The UK was Turkey's largest slab import source in the period in question, followed by Ukraine, which supplied 156,372 mt, up 81.40 percent, and Sweden with 31,599 mt, down 53.48 percent, both on year-on-year basis. Meanwhile, in the given period, Turkey's slab imports from Russia, which was the top slab import source for Turkey last year, decreased by 90.86 percent year on year to 30,602 mt, due to Russia preferring to sell its high-priced slab to the US rather than to Turkey.
Turkey's slab import sources in the first five months of this year are as follows:
| Country | Amount (mt) | |||||
| January-May 2014 | January-May 2013 | Y-o-y change(%) | May 14 | May 13 | Y-o-y change(%) | |
| UK | 346,218 | 229,629 | 50.77 | 46,163 | 46,005 | 0.07 |
| Ukraine | 156,372 | 86,201 | 81.40 | 10,076 | 46,447 | -42.19 |
| Sweden | 31,599 | 67,921 | -53.48 | - | - | - |
| Russia | 30,602 | 334,875 | -90.86 | - | 19,900 | - |
| Netherlands | 22,709 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Italy | 191 | 112 | 70.54 | - | - | - |
| Germany | 22 | 83 | -73.49 | - | - | - |
| Czech Rep</strong>. | 21 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Austria | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
Turkey's sources of imported slab in the first five months of the current year can be seen in the graph below:
