Turkiye imported 210.2 thousand tons of rolled steel from Ukraine in 2022

In 2022, Turkiye reduced the import of hot-rolled products from Ukraine by 80.2% compared to 2021 – to 210.2 thousand tons. SteelOrbis reports about it with the reference to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).

In December 2022, Ukrainian steel companies shipped 6.4 thousand tons of rolled steel to Turkiye, which is 91.8% less than in the same month of 2021.

After the blockade of Ukrainian ports, the export of steel products from Ukraine sharply decreased, in particular, to Turkiye. The main volume – about 200,000 tons of Ukrainian hot-rolled products – was shipped in January-March 2022. Then the products were shipped only in small batches by alternative routes.

In general, in 2022, Turkiye reduced the hot-rolled products import by 20.4% compared to 2021. In December, Turkish consumers imported 288.08 thousand tons of such products, which is 15.2% less y/y and by 67.1% compared to November.

Before the start of hostilities in Ukraine, the country was the first in the list of rolled products suppliers to Turkiye. Temporary disruptions in supplies pushed Ukrainian producers to the sixth place in terms of the volume of imported products. The first was Russia, whose steel companies shipped 1.19 million tons of rolled steel for the year, reducing deliveries by 37.8% y/y. In the second place is India – 599.1 thousand tons (-2.5% y/y), and in the third place – China – 537.6 thousand tons (+3.6 times y/y).

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2021, Turkiye increased the import of rolled products from Ukraine by 65.9% compared to 2020 – up to 1.1 million tons. In general, the country increased imports of rolled products by 39.7% – up to 4.9 million tons.

Turkiye ranks eighth in the world in terms of steel production. According to World Steel, the country in 2022 reduced steel output by 12.9% compared to 2021 – to 35.1 million tons.