Posted on 17 Jan 2024
Turkey’s cold rolled flat steel imports under HS code heading 7209 increased 58.3% on-year in November 2023 to 67,805 tonnes, but fell by 25% from 90,811t in October, Kallanish notes from Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) data.
The average price of November CR flat steel imports was $783/tonne.
Asian countries became major suppliers of CR flat steel into Turkey in November, achieving a cumulative share of 54%, compared to only 4% a year earlier.
Namely, South Korea was the leading source of CR flats, supplying 28,615t at an average price of $727/t, accounting for 42.2% of total monthly imports.
China contributed 11,434t, at an average price of $743/t, holding a 17% share in November imports into Turkey.
The substantial increase in Asian-origin supply was on account of falling Russian-origin intake. The country supplied 32,350t in November 2022, with a 76% share, but this plummeted 73% in November 2023 to 8,721t. It was nevertheless still third-largest supplier with a 12.9% share.
Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden and Austria increased supply in November 2023, contributing to the overall growth in Turkey’s CR flat steel imports.
Romania, Germany and Kazakhstan reduced their presence in Turkey, with the latter’s share zeroing in November.
Notably, the EU and UK, as well as South Korea have free trade agreements with Turkey and can supply the domestic market without incurring import duties. Also, under the inward processing regime in Turkey, import duties are exempted provided that the end product made from the imported material is subsequently exported.
The overall trend indicates a year-on-year increase in CR flat steel imports in Turkey. In September 2023, the country had already surpassed by 12,924t the 2022 annual import volume of 631,684t. All monthly trends in 2023 showed increases on year in import tonnages, except for the month of July.
Source:Kallanish
