Posted on 04 Jun 2019
Turkish semi-finished product exports, the vast majority of which were billet, ballooned to 162,764 tonnes in April versus just over 2,000t in April 2018, according to Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) data monitored by Kallanish.
HS code 720711 billet accounted for 138,210t, of which 50,000t and 45,836t were shipped to Saudi Arabia and Algeria respectively versus zero each a year earlier. Egypt took in 25,010t and Ethiopia 9,319t versus zero each.
The average price of this category of billet exports was $453.4/tonne. This was up from $445/t in March 2019.
Egypt also took in 9,995t of HS code 720720 semis versus zero in April 2019. Mexico took in 9,652t versus zero, while Congo sourced 2,992t versus zero. This was the first time since 2016 that Turkey shipped billet to Mexico and the first time on record to Congo.
In January-April Turkish semis exports thus soared over seven-fold to 741,773t.
HS code 720711 accounted for 571,446t. Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Algeria sourced 138,215t, 102,000t and 101,326t respectively versus zero each a year earlier.
HS code 720720 exports comprised 158,253t, of which Egypt and Taiwan sourced 55,970t and 51,555t respectively.
Turkish mills have considerably upped billet exports this year as a way of offsetting weak rebar demand in export markets. While semis exports have surged, Turkish rebar exports sunk to a 19-month low of 339,035t in April, taking four-month exports down -16% to 1.65 million tonnes.
