The number of hot rolled coils imported from China by Türkiye in January and February during the anti-dumping investigation continued to grow

According to the latest monthly data of Türkiye Institute of Statistics (TUIK), Türkiye's total imports of hot rolled coils in January and February fell 8.5% year-on-year to 755000 tons. Despite the anti-dumping investigation, Türkiye's DD11 steel imports of hot rolled coils from China more than doubled year-on-year in January and February, reaching 352000 tons.

On October 31 last year, the Ministry of Trade of Türkiye launched an anti-dumping investigation on the hot-rolled steel coils imported from China DD11 steel, India, Japan and Russia, saying that the investigation results were expected to be released in the coming months. During this period, prices continued to rise. Industry sources said that the capital inflow from China will continue to dominate the hot coil market in Türkiye at a low price.

It is reported that some buyers purchased DD11 steel hot coil resources at a price of $70/ton CFR lower than domestic prices at the end of March, putting pressure on domestic prices. We learned that hot coil orders from China at the end of March were mainly booked by steel pipe manufacturers, because Türkiye's inward processing system exempted steel pipe manufacturers and other finished steel exporters from raw steel import tariffs. The market expects that the current situation of weak domestic hot coil demand and price in Türkiye will gradually recover from May.

TUIK data shows that from January to February this year, Türkiye imported 154000 tons of hot coils from Egypt, a fourfold increase over the same period last year. In addition, Türkiye also imported 81000 tons of hot coils from Japan, which was the same year on year; 58000 tons of hot coils were imported from South Korea, a year-on-year decrease of 35%. Russia has always been Türkiye's largest supplier of hot coils. Türkiye only imported 16000 tons of hot coils from the country in January and February, compared with 16800 tons in the same period last year, the largest decline. At the same time, due to the continuation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, imports from Ukraine are missing. Other hot coil suppliers include France (20000 tons) and Brazil (18800 tons).