Turkey’s steel imports from China grew 18.5% year-on-year to 461,000 tonnes in the first two months of the year. This was mainly driven by a 770% jump in semis imports to 260,000t, Kallanish notes from a Turkish Steel Producers’ Association (TCUD) statement.

At the same time, imports of flats from China decreased by -64% y-o-y to 94,000t, while pipe imports increased 42% to 50,000t, according to the statement.

China-origin steel imports in February alone soared 62% on-year to 341,000t, the association notes.

Turkey’s total steel imports increased 4.7% y-o-y to 1.54mt in February and by 22.8% y-o-y in January-February (see Kallanish 6 April). In January the country’s total steel imports rose 31.4% on-year to 1.49mt.