Turkey's Scrap Imports Down 18.25 Percent in H1

According to the data released by TUIK, Turkey's scrap import value was $652.5 million in June, up 24.2 percent compared to May this year and down 25.8 percent year on year. In June this year, the average price of Turkey's steel scrap imports stood at $383/mt, falling approximately $8/mt compared to the previous month and down strongly compared to the average of $444/mt recorded in the same month of 2012. Meanwhile, in the first half of the year Turkey's steel scrap imports amounted to a value of $3.6 billion, down 27 percent year on year.

In the first half of the current year, Turkey imported 4.7 million mt of steel scrap from the EU, decreasing 19 percent year on year, while scrap imports from the CIS totaled 1.1 million mt, decreasing by 29.5 percent year on year. Turkey imported 2.9 million mt of scrap from North America in the first half, falling 12.6 percent year on year. In the second quarter of this year, Turkey's scrap imports from North America declinined to the lowest level recorded since the first quarter of 2011, amounting to 1.3 million mt, down 33.8 percent compared to the same quarter of 2012 and down 20.9 percent from the previous quarter.

Turkey's main scrap sources on country basis in the first half of this year are presented in the chart below: