The volume of billets imported into Turkey for March amounted to 376.15 thousand tonnes, a 4-fold increase y-o-y.
Since domestic products are more expensive than foreign products, rolling mills mostly preferred foreign products. In addition, the effects of the earthquake of 6 February are still continuing to have a negative impact on the steel sector.
Russia was the largest supplier of semi-finished products to Turkey. In the first quarter, Turkey imported 368.5 thousand tonnes of billet from Russia, up 94.7 percent y-o-y.
Apart from this, the share of imports from North Africa and the Middle East region exceeded the CIS region. For the first quarter, the North Africa and Middle East region accounted for 49 percent of the total volume with 468 thousand tonnes. Algeria and Oman were the second and third largest exporters to Turkey from this region. Qatar, despite not being represented before, continued to take its place among the top 5 countries.
In March, North African and Middle Eastern countries supplied half of Turkey's total log imports, supplying 186.3 thousand tonnes of billet to the Turkish market.
As for slab imports, Turkish producers not only used products from Russia, but also purchased semi-finished products from various parts of Europe.
According to TUIK, the volume of slab imports into the country in February was 155.7 tonnes, double the volume in January. Accordingly, slab imports decreased by 25.2 per cent compared to the same period last year.
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