In July this year, Turkey's slab imports amounted to 132,152 mt, up 57.2 percent month on month but decreasing by 53.48 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 $71 million, up 59.87 percent month on month but decreasing by 50.03 percent compared to July 2013. According to the data for July this year, the average price for Turkish slab imports in the given month was $537.22/mt, increasing $8.86/mt from the average of $528.26/mt recorded in the previous month.
In the January-July of the current year, Turkey's slab imports decreased by 35.96 percent year on year to 803,955 mt. Meanwhile, the value of Turkey's slab imports in this period was $424.71 million, down 33.22 percent year on year.
In the first seven months of this year, Turkey imported 489,675 metric tons of slab from the UK, up 33.37 percent year on year. The UK was Turkey's largest slab import source in the period in question, followed by Ukraine, which supplied 186,868 mt, up 23.3 percent year on year. Meanwhile, in the given period, Turkey's slab imports from Russia, which was the top slab import source for Turkey last year, decreased by 87.2 percent year on year to 72,025 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 seven months of this year are as follows:
| Country | Amount (mt) | |||||
| January-July 2014 | January-July 2013 | Y-o-y change (%) | July 2014 | July 2013 | Y-o-y change (%) | |
| UK | 489,675 | 367,157 | 33.37 | 97,089 | 45,904 | 13.94 |
| Ukraine | 186,868 | 151,557 | 23.3 | 10,039 | 45,31 | -23.27 |
| Russia | 72,025 | 562,745 | -87.2 | 24,398 | 162,302 | -24.51 |
| Sweden | 31,599 | 67,922 | -53.48 | - | - | |
| Netherlands | 22,709 | - | - | - | - | - |
| France | 524 | - | - | 524 | - | - |
| Italy | 511 | 541 | -5.55 | 102 | 428 | -60.26 |
| Germany | 22 | 66 | -66.67 | - | - | - |
| Czech Rep. | 21 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Austria | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
Turkey's sources of imported slab in the January-July period of the current year can be seen in the graph below:
