Turkiye imported 227.5 thousand tons of iron ore from Ukraine in May

The supply of Ukrainian iron ore to Turkish consumers resumed for the first time since January 2023

In May 2023, Turkiye imported 227.5 thousand tons of iron ore from Ukraine, while in May 2022, Ukrainian raw materials were not shipped to the Turkish market. SteelOrbis reports about it with the reference to the data of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).

The supply of Ukrainian ferrous metals to Turkish consumers resumed for the first time since January 2023, when 30,000 tons of raw materials were shipped to the Turkish market. Thus, in January-May 2023, Ukraine exported 257.5 thousand tons of iron ore to Turkiye (+9.4% y/y).

In January-May 2023, the total import of iron ore into Turkiye amounted to 2.87 million tons, which is 32.3% less than in the same period of 2022. In May, deliveries increased by 47.4% m/m and 25.9% y/y. At the same time, the value of imports fell by 22.2% y/y and increased by 36.2% m/m – up to $84.3 million.

Ukraine is among the top three suppliers of iron ore to the Turkish market in January-May with a share of 9%. Brazil is in the first place with 1.99 million tons or 69% of total imports (+18.9% y/y). Sweden shipped to Turkiye 489,800 t of iron ore or 17% of the total figure (-25.7% y/y). During this period, Turkish iron ore imports from Russia fell by 44.8% y/y – to 138.3 thousand tons.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in January-May 2023, Ukraine exported 6.85 million tons of iron ore, which is 55.1% less y/y. In May, exports decreased by 8.7% compared to April 2023 – to 1.52 million tons.

In January-May 2023, Slovakia consumed the most Ukrainian iron ore – 29.1%. The Czech Republic is in the second place with 25.1%, and Poland is in the third place with 21.4%.

Also, steel enterprises of Turkiye in May 2023 increased steel production by 7.5% compared to April 2023 – up to 2.879 million tons. In January-May, the indicator decreased by 19.1% y/y – to 12.98 million tons.