Posted on 04 Mar 2019
Turkish scrap imports slumped -26% on-year in January to 1.24 million tonnes, according to Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) data monitored by Kallanish. Their average value was $331.1/tonne versus $320.8/t in January 2018.
The January tonnage was lower than all but one monthly scrap import volume – September – in 2018.
Approximately 98.5% of the January imports were obsolete scrap, of which the US supplied 214,398t, down -45% on-year. Intake from the Netherlands surged 71% to 187,040t, but Russia supplied 181,675t, down -15%.
Intake from the UK more than halved to 100,030t and Canada supplied zero versus over 156,000t in January 2018. Supply from Germany, however, increased almost five-fold to 143,938t. This was the largest monthly tonnage supplied by Germany to Turkey since March 2003.
Due to sluggish rebar demand in Turkey’s domestic market and mills’ struggles to secure export deals, most producers reduced capacity utilisation in January and therefore required less scrap.
Turkish crude steel production fell -19.5% on-year in January to 2.57mt, the lowest monthly tonnage since September 2015 (see Kallanish passim). Scrap-consuming electric arc furnace-based output was down -26.5% to 1.6mt, while oxygen converter-based production fell less steeply, at -4.7% to 966,000t.
In full-year 2018 Turkish scrap imports were down -2% on-year to 20.7mt, having risen 15% on-year in the first half of last year.
