Turkey further increases scrap imports in February

Turkish scrap imports continued to rise in February by 16.4% on-year to 2.07 million tonnes. February imports, however, did not differ much from January imports at 2mt, according to Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) data monitored by Kallanish.

Almost 95%, or 1.97mt, of the February imports were obsolete scrap. The Netherlands was the main supplier at 432,447 tonnes, up 50.7% on-year. The US followed with 271,672t, down 29.6% on-year. Belgium more than doubled supply to 184,995t in February. Despite the increased export duty on scrap from 31 January, Russia provided 141,227t in February, up 11% on-year.

France delivered 194,927t, down 38.2%. Lithuania more than doubled supply to 115,876t in January. Romania sourced 106,975t, up 30.2%, and Belgium supplied 98,063t, down 44.2%. France delivered 128,444t, up 4.2% on-year versus only 6,574t last year. Denmark sourced 104,825t in February, versus only 31,146t last year. Romania’s supply remained almost unchanged at 88,371t. Israel almost doubled supply to 77,080. Lithuania supplied 61,402t and Germany sourced 53,614t, down 40.5% and 22.4% respectively on-year. Croatia increased deliveries significantly by 82.9% to 53,099t in February. Bulgaria delivered 52,333t versus only 15,502t last year.

The average value of total scrap imports increased to $406.5/t in February from $294/t in February 2020 and $338.7/t in January.

In January-February, Turkish scrap imports increased 17.2% on-year to 4.08mt. The Netherlands was the largest supplier with 641,498t, up 22.5% on-year. It was followed by the US with 466,663t, down 33% and the UK with 419,372t, up 36%. Russia supplied 352,534t, up 41%.

Turkish imports of HS code 720711 billet, meanwhile, more than trebled to 389,862t in February. This was, also, up from 149,781t in January.

Russia more than doubled supply to 185,628t in February. Ukraine followed with 104,645t versus only 33,103t last year. Qatar, Oman and Azerbaijan sourced 48,000t, 37,343t and 6,484t respectively versus zero last year. Albania, which provided almost zero last year, delivered 4,792t in February.

Two-month HS code 720711 imports more than doubled to 539,643t. The largest supplier was Russia with 294,042t.

Turkish rebar exports surged 25% on-year to 573,291t in February (see Kallanish passim).

Burcak Alpman Turkey