Turkish imports of steel billets up 103 percent

The country's imports of steel slabs and blooms rose 35.73 percent year on year in May 2014, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute. Imports totaled about 428,829 tons, up 103.26 percent over the previous month of this year.

Ukraine became the largest exporter over the past period in 2014. Turkey imported about 794,612 tons of billets from Ukraine in the first five months, which is 14.75 percent higher than last year. Russia delivered 399,080 tonnes of steel billets in the period, representing a 9.22 percent YoY growth, and is Turkey's second-largest importer.

In addition, Ukraine was also the main source of imports of slabs and blooms to Turkey during May this year, supplying 240,807 tons of these products, up 37.45 percent on an annualized basis. The total value of Turkish imports recorded in May was approximately US $ 227,230,000. It increased 28.19 percent year on year and about 100.65 percent over the previous month.

Turkey imported about 1.310 million tons of steel slabs and blooms during the first five months of this year, showing an increase of 2.7 percent year on year. The total value of imports was about US $ 705.75 million, an increase of 3.4 percent over the same period last year.