Turkey decreased its billet export by 55.1pc to 543,000mt, and increased its import by 10pc to 1.39mn mt in January-October 2020, according to statistical source SteelData.
Turkish companies faced difficulties with billet export to their traditional outlets because of which, their total export volume dropped. However, they began developing exports to new outlets in 2020. Shipments of semis to Morocco rose by 10.5pc to 275,000mt in the first 10 months of the year, while they declined by 33.4pc to 52,000mt to Tunisia, by 75.6pc to 51,000mt to Saudi Arabia, and by 93.6pc to 15,000mt to Egypt.
Turkish companies exported 70,000mt of billets to Peru, 10,000mt to El Salvador, and 9,000mt to Honduras in January-October 2020, while there were no shipments to these countries in 2019.
Turkey’s imports of semis rose due to solid domestic long product market. As a result, both Russia and Ukraine increased their shipments to Turkey by 14.2pc and 14pc to 892,000mt and 346,000mt, respectively, amid existed demand, according to SteelData.