In August this year, Turkey's slab imports amounted to 123,548 mt, down 6.51 percent month on month and decreasing by 15.32 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 $65.02 million, down 8.42 percent month on month and decreasing by 8.34 percent compared to August 2013. According to the data for August this year, the average price for Turkish slab imports in the given month was $526.27/mt, decreasing $10.95/mt from the average of $537.22/mt recorded in the previous month.
In the January-August period of the current year, Turkey's slab imports decreased by 33.81 percent year on year to 927,503 mt. Meanwhile, the value of Turkey's slab imports in this period was $489.73 million, down 30.72 percent year on year.
In the first eight months of this year, Turkey imported 581,585 metric tons of slab from the UK, up 40.79 percent year on year. The UK was Turkey's largest slab import source in the period in question, followed by Ukraine, which supplied 216,779 mt, up 13.04 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 87.97 percent year on year to 72,025 mt.
Turkey's slab import sources in the first eight months of this year are as follows:
| Country | Amount (mt) | |||||
| January-August 2014 | January-August 2013 | Y-o-y change (%) | August 2014 | August 2013 | Y-o-y change (%) | |
| UK | 581,585 | 413,096 | 40.79 | 91,909 | 45,939 | 11.13 |
| Ukraine | 216,779 | 191,764 | 13.04 | 29,911 | 40,238 | -5.39 |
| Russia | 72,025 | 598,591 | -87.97 | - | 32,846 | - |
| Sweden | 31,599 | 91,803 | -65.58 | - | 12,882 | - |
| Netherlands | 22,709 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Italy | 2,238 | 540 | - | 1,727 | - | - |
| France | 524 | - | - | 102 | - | - |
| Germany | 22 | 83 | - | - | - | - |
| Czech Rep. | 21 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Austria | 1 | 2 | - | 1 | 2 | - |
Turkey's sources of imported slab in the January-August period of the current year can be seen in the graph below:
