Turkish Ore Imports Recorded Marginal Decline in 2018

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The trade statistics published by the Turkish Statistical Institute indicates that iron ore imports by the country dropped significantly during Dec ‘18. The country’s import quantity during the entire year 2018 too was down slightly when compared to 2017.

Turkey imported 1.023 million tonnes of iron ore in December last year. This is 13.1% lower than the total imports of 1.177 million tonnes in December 2017. Out of this, imports of lump, fines totaled 540,003 tonnes, whereas the balance 482,791 tonnes accounted for pellets. The value of imports edged higher by 3.3% from $99.717 million to $103.002 million. Year-on-year, the import prices zoomed by nearly 19% from $84.7 per tonne to $100.7 per tonne.

The single largest supplier of iron ore to Turkey in Dec ’18 was Brazil. The imports from Brazil totaled 338,909 tonnes at an average price of $76.6 per tonne. In second place was Sweden with supplies of 185,055 tonnes, followed by Canada with 171,614 tonnes.

The cumulative imports of iron ore for the calendar year 2018 totaled 10.736 million tonnes, slightly lower by 1.8% upon comparison with 10.931 million tonnes in 2017. The average price of imports remained more or less unchanged at $92.7 per tonne during the year. The yearly iron ore were valued at $995.424 million during the previous year.

The top three import sources were Brazil (4.633 million tonnes), Sweden (1.900 million tonnes) and Russia (1.219 million tonnes). The other key suppliers in 2018 were Canada (843,268 tonnes), South Africa (839,150 tonnes) and Ukraine (742,141 tonnes).