In the January-August period this year, Turkey's steel imports from China increased by 220.5 percent to 1.51 million mt, with a value of $1,24 billion, up 58.5 percent, both compared to the same period of 2014, according to the data released by the Turkish Iron and Steel Producers' Association (TCUD).
According to the TCUD, in the first eight months of this year Turkey's overall billet imports from China totaled more than 526,000 mt compared to 20,000 mt in the same period of last year, while there were hardly any slab imports from China in the given period. As regards Turkey's other steel imports from China in the January- August period this year, Turkey's flat steel imports reached 589,000 mt, up 285.4 percent, long steel imports amounted to 132,000 mt, up 66.6 percent and steel pipe imports increased by 34.6 percent to 167,000 mt, year on year.
In the January-August period, the share of imports from China in Turkey's total steel product imports rose from 5.3 percent in the same period last year to 12.1 percent.
In August alone, Turkey's steel imports from China reached 444,000 million mt, up 298.4 percent year on year. In the month in question, flat steel imports from China increased by 31.2 percent to 26,000 mt, long steel imports totaled 16,000 mt, down 39.6 percent, and pipe imports from China reached 18,000 mt, down 43.6 percent, all year on year.