Turkey’s January-September scrap imports hit 16 million mt, up 15%

Turkish mills’ scrap bookings from their global suppliers increased year on year in the first three quarters of 2020, with imports especially from the US rising significantly with the support of demand recovery as of July. The on-year rise was despite some mills’ temporary stoppages and output cuts during the second quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Turkish mills’ crude steel output rose by 2.6% on year to 25.9 million mt in January-September, as the rise in crude steel production reached as high as 16.6% on year, with a strong market recovery as of June.

Turkish mills’ imports of ferrous scrap totaled 16.1 million mt in the nine-month period, 15% higher on year. The US remained Turkey’s largest scrap supplier by far in January-September at 3.4 million mt, 27% higher than the same period the previous year, S&P Global Platts observed from the latest Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) data.

Turkish mills’ scrap imports from the Netherlands rose by 19% year on year to 2.18 million mt in the first nine months of 2020, while imports from the UK totaled 1.69 million mt, slightly higher than the 1.67 million mt imported in the same period of 2019.

Turkish mills also imported 1.72 million mt of ferrous scrap from Russia in January-September, higher than 1.55 million mt imported in the same period the previous year.

Imports from Belgium totaled 1.22 million mt through September, while imports from Romania and Lithuania totaled 865,600 mt and 689,000 mt, respectively.

Denmark shipped 566,600 mt of ferrous scrap to Turkey in that period, while France exported 401,000 mt.

Other ferrous scrap suppliers to Turkey in January-September were: Germany (367,200 mt), Bulgaria (259,900 mt), Israel (279,400 mt), Sweden (264,400 mt) and Italy (202,300 mt), the latest data showed.

— Cenk Canf