Turkish ferrous scrap imports remain stable in Apr’20

Turkey, world’s largest ferrous scrap importer, has observed stability in its scrap imports with just a 4% increase on monthly basis in Apr’20, as the country imported at 1.72 MnT of scrap as compared to 1.79 MnT imported in Mar’20. On a yearly premise, the scrap imports witnessed a fall by 14% as it imported 2.01 MnT during the same period a year ago, Apr’19.

The USA remained the largest exporter to Turkey, supplying 0.31 MnT scrap in Apr’20 with a 18% share in total scrap imported by Turkey, decreasing by 14% M-o-M, as against 0.36 MnT exported in Mar’20. The Netherlands stood in a second position with 14% share, exporting 0.24 MnT scrap in Jan’20, slightly down by 4% M-o-M.

Turkish imports of coal, iron ore, semi-finished and finish flat were decreased in Apr’20. Whereas, imports of finish long steel witnessed a slight increase in the month.

Iron Ore: Turkey iron ore imports in Apr’20 witnessed at 0.72 MnT, down 15% as against 0.85 MnT in Mar’20. Sweden stood the largest exporter of iron ore for the month at 0.33 MnT, up against 0.17 MnT in Mar’20.

Brazil stood the second largest exporter of iron ore to Turkey at 0.24 MnT, down 58% M-o-M as against 0.57 MnT in Mar’20. Imports from Brazil have dropped amid supply concerns so caused due to discrepancies prevailing at world’s largest iron ore miner Vale. Imports from
India continues to remain nil for third consecutive month in Apr’20.

Coal: Turkish coal imports have decreased by 36% M-o-M to 2.4 MnT in Apr’20 compared with 3.74 MnT in Mar’20. The volume was also noted 15% lower on the year from 2.81 MnT in Apr’19. However, despite the recent fall, restrictions on domestic lignite usage have supported the imports taken during the first four months of CY20. Imports totaled 13.41 MnT in Jan-Apr’20, up 6% Y-o-Y from 12.68 MnT against the same period.

Reduced demand impacted Turkey’s coal sourcing from its major suppliers during Apr’20, where a slight uptick M-o-M was only seen in case of Russia. On the other hand, Turkish coal imports from its major supplier, Colombia dropped 46% M-o-M to 1.05 MnT, which was accompanied by a 38% decline recorded from the US.

Semi-Finished: Semi-finished steel imports to Turkey witnessed a sharp decline by 79% M-o-M to 0.08 MnT in Apr’20 as against 0.38 MnT imported in Mar’20. On a yearly basis too, imports diminished by 70% Y-o-Y from 0.27 MnT imported during the same period in Apr’19.

Ukraine remained leading supplier with 63% share in total semi-finished imported by Turkey as it exported 0.05 MnT in Apr’20, down by 64% on a monthly basis as against 0.14 MnT exported in Mar’20. Another prominent exporter was Russia, which exported a nominal quantity at 0.1 MnT in Apr’20, fall by 30% M-o-M from 0.13 MnT exported in March’20.

Finish Flat: Turkish flat steel import fall by 25% on a monthly basis to 0.33 MnT in Apr’20 in comparison with 0.44 MnT imported in the preceding month. However, on a yearly basis too, the imports declined by 56% in contrast with 0.75 MnT imported in Apr’19. The nation’s imports from Russia stood at 0.05 MnT in Apr’20, declined by 38% as against 0.08 MnT a month ago.

Finish long: The country’s finish long steel imports remained stable on a monthly basis at 0.05 MnT imported in Apr’20. On a yearly basis, finish long imports fall by 44% from 0.09 MnT imported a year ago in Apr’19. Spain exported the largest quantity of finish long products in Apr’20 at 0.02 MnT, up by 100% M-o-M as against 0.01 exported a month ago in Mar’20.

Quantity in MT
Source: SteelMint Stats & Customs Data