Turkey's scrap metal imports decreased in January-May 2026 as the United States overtook the Netherlands

In May of this year, the volume of scrap imports to Turkey decreased by 20.2 percent month-on-month and 7.0 percent year-on-year to 1.49 million tons, according to data provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK). The value of these imports amounted to $593.95 million, a decrease of 5.6% year-on-year and 18.0% month-on-month.

In the period from January to May, scrap metal imports to Turkey amounted to 8.08 million tons, which is 1.1% less, while the value of these imports increased by 0.1% to $3.11 billion, year-on-year.

Scrap imports to Turkey - The last 12 months

In the period from January to May 2025, the largest sources of scrap imports to Turkey were mainly the Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Denmark, while the ranking shifted in favor of the United States in the same period of 2026. Imports from the United States increased 24.1 percent year-on-year to 1.66 million tons, making it the largest supplier, while imports from the Netherlands, last year's leading source, fell 22 percent to 1.07 million tons. The UK retained third place with an increase of 4.6 percent, while imports from Romania increased by 53.1 percent to 630,975 tons. In contrast, imports from Belgium and Lithuania decreased by 18.3 percent and 7.4 percent, respectively, while imports from Germany also fell by 8.9 percent. The overall picture shows that although the total tonnage of scrap imports to Turkey decreased slightly between January and May, there was a significant shift in