According to the data provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), in September this year Turkey's slab imports amounted to 198,685 mt, increasing by 36.17 percent month on month and up 84.19 percent year on year. The total value of Turkey's slab imports in the given month was $96.98 million, up 36.72 percent month on month and increasing by 65.39 percent compared to September 2012. According to the data for September this year, the average price for Turkish slab imports was $488.13/mt, falling 11.65 percent from the average of $552.48/mt recorded in the same month of the previous year.
In the first nine months of the year, Turkey's slab imports totaled 1,599,926 mt, almost triple, with a value of $803.89 million, more than double, both year on year. Turkey imported 671,036 metric tons of slab from Russia in January-September this year, increasing by almost thirteen times, 505,291 metric tons of slab from UK, increasing threefold, and 225,772 metric tons of slab from Ukraine, up 94.70 percent, all year on year. Meanwhile, in the third quarter this year, Turkey's slab imports increased by 41.54 percent compared to the second quarter.
This year, some Turkish flat steel producers have preferred to import slab to produce hot rolled coil (HRC) when the market situation allows import slab purchases at advantageous prices, instead of producing steel slab from scrap at their own facilities. This is because higher scrap prices have eroded steel mills' profit margins given that crude steel production costs plus the cost of converting slab into HRC have from time to time exceeded HRC market prices. This situation has caused a significant increase in Turkey's steel slab imports.
Turkey's largest slab sources in the period in question can be seen in the graph below:
Turkey's top 10 slab import sources in January-September 2013 are as follows:
CountryAmount (mt) Jan-Sept. 2013Jan-Sept. 2012Sept. 13Sept. 12 Russia671,03648,49372,44617,889 UK505,291127,27192,19546,501 Ukraine225,772115,95834,04420,342 Sweden91,80390,878-21,335 Iran57,217--- Brazil39,305--- USA5,988--- Japan2,853--- Italy5401,229-60 Germany834--