Turkish hot-rolled coil (HRC) exports climbed by 34pc on the year in May, supported by strong sales to the EU.
Turkey benefits from its own HRC quota under the EU's steel safeguard measures, which enabled a sharp increase in shipments to Spain, which grew by more than sevenfold on the year to 86,000t. Exports to Italy dropped by 33pc on the year to 64,500t on low demand, but higher volumes to Belgium, the UK, Portugal and Egypt helped offset this decline.
Cold-rolled coil (CRC) exports declined by 32pc on the year in May. Turkey is included under the "other countries" quota for CRC, and following recent EU quota amendments, Turkish shipments to the bloc declined. Most volumes cleared customs in May, and buyers were reluctant to purchase further material because a 20pc import duty is applied once quotas are exhausted. A similar trend was seen in hot-dip galvanised (HDG) exports, but strong sales to Ukraine helped offset lower EU demand.
On the long steel side, rebar exports rose by 22pc on the year in May, driven by strong demand from Romania. In contrast, shipments to Yemen — historically one of Turkey's largest rebar export markets — shrunk by 63.5pc to 32,000t. Wire rod exports to Romania remained firm and sales to Italy picked up to 9,000t in May, compared with nearly no shipments in April.
On the import side, Turkish HRC imports surged by 62.6pc in May, with Chinese volumes nearly doubling to 262,800t. South Korea remained a key supplier of CRC. Following Turkey's ongoing anti-dumping investigation into CRC, HDG and pre-painted galvanised iron imports from China and South Korea, buyers increased purchases from South Korea to take advantage of the free trade agreement before any duties are imposed.
Rebar imports declined in May amid weak domestic demand, resulting in lower shipments from Iran, the UAE and Germany. In contrast, wire rod imports climbed by 70pc on the year to 55,000t, with 16,000t having been sourced from China. Billet imports more than doubled in May, supported by strong supply from Malaysia, Russia and China.
| Turkish steel exports | t | ||
| May 25 | ±% May 24 | ±% Apr 25 | |
| HRC | 323,861 | 34.1% | 0.6% |
| CRC | 54,852 | -32.8% | -0.0% |
| HDG | 119,808 | 16.9% | 70.5% |
| Plate | 71,361 | 270.7% | 16.4% |
| Rebar | 363,590 | 22.1% | 25.6% |
| Wire rod | 77,100 | 76.9% | 60.5% |
| — GTT | |||
| Turkish steel imports | t | ||
| May 25 | ±% May 24 | ±% Apr 25 | |
| HRC | 537,556 | 62.6% | 108.9% |
| CRC | 102,386 | -3.7% | 23.2% |
| HDG | 138,943 | -3.0% | -1.8% |
| Plate | 60,597 | -20.4% | 5.0% |
| Slab | 399,217 | 5.4% | 34.0% |
| Rebar | 12,184 | -42.0% | -44.3% |
| Wire rod | 54,929 | 70.2% | -12.2% |
| Billet | 476,541 | 211.0% | 85.3% |
| — GTT | |||
