Turkey's slab imports surge in January-October

In October this year, Turkey's slab imports amounted to 140,068 mt, decreasing by 29.50 percent month on month and down 8.87 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 $70.15 million, down 27.66 percent month on month and decreasing by 12.50 percent compared to October 2012. According to the data for October this year, the average price for Turkish slab imports was $500.85/mt, falling nearly four percent from the average of $521.64/mt recorded in the same month of the previous year.

 
In the first 10 months of the year, Turkey's slab imports totaled 1,739,960 mt, almost triple, with a value of $874.04 million, also almost triple, both year on year. In the same period, Turkey imported 690,719 metric tons of slab from Russia, increasing by almost eight times, 564,368 metric tons of slab from the UK, increasing more than threefold, and 260,726 metric tons of slab from Ukraine, up 78.67 percent, all year on year.
 
In October this year, the UK was Turkey's top source for slab imports, while in the January-October period of the year the leading source was Russia.
 
As SteelOrbis has previously reported, this year some Turkish flat steel producers have preferred to import slab to produce hot rolled coil (HRC) when the market situation allows import slab purchases at advantageous prices, instead of producing steel slab from scrap at their own facilities. This is because higher scrap prices have eroded steel mills' profit margins given that crude steel production costs plus the cost of converting slab into HRC have from time to time exceeded HRC market prices. This situation has caused a significant increase in Turkey's steel slab imports.
 

Turkey's top 10 slab import sources in January-October 2013 are as follows:

 Turkey's largest slab sources in the period in question can be seen in the graph below: