According to the data provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), in January this year Turkey's flat steel imports, including hot rolled, cold rolled, coated and narrow strip steel, rose by 39.15 percent compared to the previous month and were up 14.5 percent compared to January 2012, totaling 495,064 metric tons. The value of these imports amounted to $325 million, increasing by 34.6 percent over December and up 3.25 percent year on year.
In 2012, Turkey's flat steel imports had amounted to 5 million metric tons, decreasing 1.8 percent year on year.
In January this year, Turkey's hot rolled flat steel imports from Russia amounted to 90,795 metric tons, increasing by 85.8 percent year on year. Turkey's second biggest source of hot rolled flat steel imports last year was Ukraine with 73,164 metric tons, down 6.8 percent compared to January 2012. France's flat steel exports to Turkey in January amounted to 70,949 mt, more than quadruple compared to January last year, while the Netherlands exported 64,644 mt of flat steel to Turkey in January of the current year, up 25.7 percent year on year.
Turkey's rolled coil imports over the past 13 months are indicated in the following charts:
