Ferrous scrap consumption dropped by 4.1pc to 12.84mn mt in Turkey in January-June 2020 compared with the same period in 2019 amid a decline in crude steel output.
In H1 2020, Turkey produced 16.29mn mt down from 16.99mn mt produced in the same period last year. The decline is attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, production started to recover in June and reached 2.80mn mt versus 2.3mn mt in May 2020.
Turkey increased its ferrous scrap imports by 7.3pc to 9.67mn mt in the first six months of 2020, while its purchases from the domestic market decreased by 27.5pc to 3.17mn mt during the same period, according to SteelData statistics. Turkish mills imported 62.6pc of scrap from the EU, 20.8pc from North America, and 10.4pc from the CIS.
The US, the Netherlands, the UK, Russia, and Belgium were the key ferrous scrap suppliers to Turkey, as illustrated in the table below:
Top 5 ferrous scrap suppliers to Turkey, (,000mt)
| H1 2019 | H1 2020 | change | |
| USA | 1,624 | 1,966 | 21pc |
| Netherlands | 1,250 | 1,360 | 8.8pc |
| United Kingdom | 1,155 | 968 | -16.1pc |
| Russia | 970 | 943 | -2.8pc |
| Belgium | 628 | 657 | 4.5pc |
| Others | 3,382 | 3,773 | 12pc |
| Total | 9,009 | 9,667 | 7.3pc |
Source: SteelData