Turkey- world’s largest ferrous scrap importer, witnessed a 13% fall in Oct’20 amid tighter availability of scrap from EU & US. The country has imported 1.85 mn t scrap in Oct’20 as compared to 2.14 mn t was recorded in Sep’20, as per data maintained with SteelMint. Major suppliers were the USA at 0.34 mn t (down by 31% in Oct’20). Other key suppliers were – Netherlands and Russia at 0.22 mn t and 0.20 mn t in Oct’20 respectively. However, on a yearly basis, Turkish scrap imports have increased sharply by 64% as against Oct’19.
Turkey’s Jan-Oct’20 scrap imports up by 18% y-o-y – Scrap imports to Turkey totalled 17.92 mn t in Jan-Oct’20 as compared with 15.16 mn t last year.
Imported scrap prices in Turkey rise sharply –SteelMint’s assessment of USA origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) stood at $300/t CFR Turkey in Sep’20 against $284/t CFR Turkey in Aug’20. Prices have rallied further and have hit over 2.5 years high in early Dec’20.
- Increase in steel output –Turkey’s crude steel production for Oct’20 was 3.2 mn t, up by 19.4% on Oct’19, as per WSA data.
- Improved steel consumption lowering Turkish steel exports – During 9M CY’20, Turkish finished steel consumption increased by 15% y-o-y. Turkish flat steel exports have come down by 15% m-o-m to 0.56 mn t in Oct’20. Similarly, long steel exports have fallen by 4% m-o-m to 0.79 mn t in Oct’20.
- Auto sales up in Turkey –Sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in Turkey surged 37.8% y-o-y in Nov’20 to 80,141 units, the Automotive Distributors Association highlighted.
Quantity in mn t
Source: SteelMint stats and customs data
Leave a Reply