Turkish scrap imports plunged in January

ANKARA (Scrap Monster): According to the latest data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), the total scrap imports by Turkey during the month of January this year declined sharply by nearly 29% from the previous year. However, scrap imports during the month were slightly higher when compared with Dec ’14.

The country’s scrap imports during Jan ‘15 totaled 1.38 million metric tons. Turkey had imported 1.95 million tons of scrap during January last year. This is in line with the 10.4% drop in crude steel output by the country in January this year. TUIK figures indicate that Turkey’s crude steel output totaled 2.58 million mt during Jan ’15.

The largest scrap exporter to Turkey during January was the UK. The country exported 424,703 metric tons of scrap to Turkey, constituting 30% of the total Turkish imports during the month. The imports from the UK jumped significantly higher by 59% during the month over the previous year. The monthly scrap imports were 30% higher when compared with the previous month. The second largest scrap supplier to Turkey was Russia with 214,981 tons, up by 14.7% over the year. In third place was the US with 184,629 tons. The scrap imports from the US dropped sharply by 62% when matched with Jan ‘14.

The other key scrap suppliers to Turkey during Jan ’15 were Belgium (104,146 mt), Netherlands (79,228 mt), Romania (72,976 mt) and Canada (46,108 mt).

The scrap import prices averaged at $318 per mt CFR during the month.