Turkey’s ferrous scrap consumption rose by 26pc to 19.13mn mt in January-July compared to the first seven months of 2020 and is expected to reach a historical high this year in line with crude steel output, according to statistical source SteelData.
Turkey produced 22.93mn mt of crude steel during the period under review compared with 19.49 mn mt during the same prior-year period. As a result, Turkey increased ferrous scrap imports by 26pc to 15.24mn mt in the first seven months of this year and its purchases from the domestic market by 22pc to 3.89mn mt.
Crude steel output in Turkey is anticipated to exceed 39mn mt in 2021 due to a robust economy. In H1 2021, the country’s GDP grew by 14pc and the steel industry by 21pc, according to SteelData.
In July 2021, Turkey imported 2.37mn mt of ferrous scrap against 2.38mn mt in the same month a year ago, while crude steel production reached 3.23mn mt.
Key ferrous scrap suppliers to Turkey in January-July 2021 were the Netherlands, the USA, the UK, Russia, and Belgium, as illustrated in the table below:
Top 15 ferrous scrap suppliers to Turkey (thousand mt)
| Jan-Jul 2020 | Jan-Jul 2021 | change (pc) | |
| Netherlands | 1,605 | 2,099 | 31 |
| USA | 2,538 | 1,954 | -23 |
| United Kingdom | 1,191 | 1,580 | 33 |
| Russia | 1,263 | 1,321 | 5 |
| Belgium | 890 | 1,086 | 22 |
| Romania | 605 | 793 | 31 |
| Lithuania | 609 | 773 | 27 |
| France | 319 | 628 | 97 |
| Denmark | 464 | 560 | 21 |
| Venezuela | 47 | 437 | 830 |
| Germany | 263 | 425 | 62 |
| Poland | 256 | 385 | 50 |
| Croatia | 168 | 319 | 90 |
| Israel | 211 | 308 | 46 |
| Bulgaria | 205 | 298 | 45 |
| Others | 1,417 | 2,277 | 61 |
| Total | 12,051 | 15,243 | 26 |
Source: SteelData