Türkiye becomes the largest buyer of Chinese hot-rolled steel

Turkey overtook Vietnam to become the largest buyer of Chinese hot-rolled coil in May, despite the start of an increase in import duties in the country. “Demand from Turkey was strong a couple of months ago, especially after the devastating earthquake in February. The higher import duties imposed by the Turkish government had a limited impact on the demand for Chinese materials because buyers there could incur additional costs and most of them would have avoided duties by [re-exporting end products made using imported steel],” said a trader from Shanghai. .

Demand from Turkey eased ahead of the presidential election in May but is showing signs of picking up with inquiries and small transactions in recent weeks, Fastmarkets traders said.

Turkey's imposition of higher import duties on HRC, cold-rolled coil, hot-dip galvanized coil and color-coated coil finally came into effect on May 1 after being postponed twice.

Chinese exports of steel sheet in May were 85,812 tons, down 24% from the record high in April, the first monthly decline in eight months.

Volume in May is also 19% lower than a year earlier, after four consecutive months of year-on-year growth.

A decline in exports to Turkey contributed to May's decline from the previous month.

A total of 17,024 tons of Chinese steel sheet was shipped to Turkey in May, more than half of April's volume. This made Turkey the second largest buyer of Chinese steel sheet last month, while Thailand returned to the top spot.