In December, the supply of imported scrap to Turkish steel mills increased by 31.1% annually.
In 2023, Turkish steel mills reduced scrap imports by 10% compared to the previous month – to 18.83 million tons. This is evidenced by data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), Kallanish reports.
In 2023, the United States was the largest supplier of raw materials to Turkish consumers – 4.49 million tons. They are followed by the Netherlands and Belgium.
In December, scrap imports to Turkey totaled 1.66 million tons, an increase of 31.1% compared to December 2022 and 6.8% compared to November. The supply of imported scrap to Turkish steel mills has been growing for the third consecutive month.
Obsolete scrap represented more than 99%, or 1.65 million tons, of December imports. The average price for this scrap was US$385 per ton, up from US$367 per ton in December 2022 and US$388 per ton in November 2023.
The five largest scrap suppliers in December were the United States – 402 thousand tons (+41.4% per year), the Netherlands – 236 thousand tons (+104% per year), Denmark – 123.7 thousand tons (+76, 2% per year). per year), Romania – 102.8 thousand tons (+33.8% per year) and Venezuela – 97.15 thousand tons (+263% per year).
As previously reported by , in 2022, Turkey reduced scrap imports by 16.5% compared to 2021, to 20.93 million tons. The decrease in scrap imports to the country was due to the low utilization of local steel mills in the second half of 2022.
Turkey ranks eighth in the world in terms of steel production. In 2023, Turkish steel mills reduced steel production by 14% compared to 2022, to 33.7 million tons.