Turkish thermal coal imports touch 3-month high during January this year: TUIK

ANKARA (Scrap Monster): The thermal coal imports by Turkey during the month of January this year surged 36.2% year-on-year to 2.080 million mt. The recent data released by the Turkish Statistical institute (TUIK) also indicates that Colombia has become the largest coal supplier to Turkey, moving Russia to second place.

The coal imports by the country from Colombia during Jan this year totaled 969,578.9 mt. The coal imports surged by 211% upon comparison with the imports during the same month a year ago. Also, the coal imports by Turkey during January jumped higher by nearly 50% from those during December.

The second largest supplier of thermal coal to Turkey was Russia. The Russian exports totaled 774,233 mt during the month, which is 2% higher year-on-year and 1% higher over December.

The other major sources of thermal coal import by Turkey were South Africa and Ukraine. South Africa supplied 165,983 mt during the month, falling by 28% over the previous year. The imports from Ukraine totaled 130,960 mt, almost double year-on-year and month-on-month.

Also, the coking coal imports by Turkey jumped 13% year-on-year to 512,909 mt in January. However, the volumes were down 15% from those during December 2013. The largest exporter of coking coal to Turkey was the US, accounting for nearly 60% of the total imports during January.