Pig iron imports to Turkey decreased by 12pc to 420,000mt in the first four months of 2020 compared with January-April 2019 as buyers preferred ferrous scrap bookings.
Turkish mills dropped pig iron imports amid unattractive prices for it due to limited availability. Instead, they focused on ferrous scrap imports, which rose by 18pc to 6.98mn mt. Crude steel production was almost unchanged and totaled 11.22mn mt during the period under review versus 11.23mn a year ago, according to Turkish Steel Producers Association.
CIS countries were the main pig iron supplier to Turkey in January-April 2020, according to Turkish statistical source SteelData. Supply of the material from Russia decreased by 42pc to 200,000mt, and increased significantly from Ukraine to 111,000mt from 55,000mt in prior year.
Turkey’s pig iron imports from Brazil, Germany, and Canada was 58,000mt, 41,000mt and 10,000mt, respectively, during the period under review, according to SteelData.