As stated by the Turkish Iron and Steel Producers' Association (TCUD), the increased contraction in China's domestic steel consumption, China’s inability to compensate the decline in consumption by reducing its steel production, the rapid increase in growth in China's steel exports, and China’s oversupply have caused steel prices to decline further and this environment also caused the rapid increase in Turkey’s steel imports.
According to the new TCUD data, in the January-October period this year Turkey's steel imports from China surged by a massive 250.5 percent to 2.33 million mt, with a value of $1.71 billion, up 67.7 percent, both compared to the same period of 2014.
As indicated by the TCUD, in the first ten months of this year Turkey's overall billet imports from China surged by 3426 percent year on year to 1.06 million mt. As regards Turkey's other steel imports from China in the January-October period this year, Turkey's flat steel imports reached 721,000 mt, up 235.1 percent, long steel imports amounted to 182,000 mt, rising by 31.5 percent, and steel pipe imports increased by 54.5 percent to 253,000 mt, year on year.
In October alone, Turkey's steel imports from China reached 359,000 million mt, up 224.4 percent year on year. In the month in question, Turkey's billet imports from China reached 10,000 mt, while there were hardly any billet imports from China in the same month of last year, flat steel imports increased by 34.3 percent to 57,000 mt, long steel imports totaled 33,000 mt, up 6.5 percent, and pipe imports reached 30,000 mt, up 63.8 percent, all year on year.