Turkish companies increased billet imports by 8.4pc to 1.30mn mt but reduced the product’s exports by 58.7pc to 466,000mt in January-September 2020, according to statistical source SteelData.
Turkey’s imports of semis rose amid firm domestic long product market. The CIS region is traditionally known to be the main supplier of the product and in the first nine months of the year, both Russia and Ukraine increased their shipments to Turkey by 11.7pc and 16.1pc to 821,000mt and 332,000mt, respectively.
Billet export from Turkey dropped due to challenging sales. Shipments of semis increased only to Morocco, the key outlet, by 31.6pc to 275,000mt in the first nine months of the year, according to SteelData.
Billet export from Turkey to Saudi Arabia decreased by 75.6pc to 51,000mt and by 40.2pc to 38,000mt to Tunisia.