Turkey's steel sector results for the first quarter

In the first quarter of 2018, Turkey's metallurgical industry production performance reflects robust growth compared to the corresponding prior year. Nevertheless, there was a decrease in the volume of exports of rolled metal products.

Consumption of long products of our own production in the domestic market during the first quarter jumped by 20.9%, while the growth in production of this type of product amounted to 9%. In addition, the export of rolled products decreased by 5.8%, which was a consequence of an increase in demand for it from Turkish consumers.

Production of sheet metal products increased by 16.7% due, first of all, to an increased demand for this type of metal products in the domestic market, as well as a sharp rise to 23% in exports compared to last year and a decrease in imports of steel products.

Slab production in Turkey has been growing steadily since 2016. The first quarter of 2018 is characterized by an increase in imports of scrap metal (by 26%) and semi-finished products (by 18%), which is a consequence of an increase in the production of liquid steel and finished products at Turkish metallurgical enterprises.

Imports of scrap metal in the first quarter of 2018 from the same period in 2017, then its volume, as noted above, increased by 26% and amounted to 5.38 million tons. At the same time, the level of imports from the United States increased by 22.4%, from the UK - by 43.3% and from Russia by 84%. In addition, Canada has become a new supplier of scrap metal to Turkey.

At the same time, export prices for such metal products as long products, sheet metal products, Turkish-made pipes are lower than the average import prices for the corresponding assortment.