ANKARA: Turkey’s import volumes of flat steel products increased by 3.14% year on year in 2017, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) on Thursday February 1.
Turkey imported 8,390,305 tonnes of flat steel in January-December 2017. This compared with 8,134,707 tonnes in 2016. The reasons for the increase were the competitiveness of import prices and the strong demand for flat steel in Turkey, sources said. Metal Bulletin’s weekly average price assessment for Turkish domestic hot-rolled coil (HRC) was $545 per tonne ex-works on January 6, 2017, while the average price assessment for Turkish HRC imports on the same day was $515 per tonne cfr. On December 29 last year, the corresponding weekly average price assessments were $602.50 per tonne for domestic HRC and $575 per tonne cfr for imports.
