Turkiye reduced iron ore imports from Ukraine by 60% y/y in August 2022

Turkish steel enterprises in August 2022 reduced the import of iron ore from Ukraine by 59.7% compared to the same month of 2021 – to 31.91 thousand tons. This is evidenced by the data of the Turkish Statistical Institute, reports SteelOrbis.

In January-August 2022, Turkiye imported 522.14 thousand tons of Ukrainian iron ore. This is 47.7% less than in January-August 2021. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Turkish steelmakers have imported only 67.7 thousand tons of Ukrainian iron ore. There were no imports from Ukraine in April-May this year. Therefore, the main mass of iron ore was shipped in January-March – 454.4 thousand tons.

In general, in January-August 2022, Turkiye reduced iron ore imports by 8.6% compared to the same period in 2021 – to 6.97 million tons. In August, purchases of iron ore increased by 19.3% compared to July and decreased by 30,2% to August 2021 – to 801.19 thousand tons.

The main supplier of iron ore to Turkiye is Brazil. In January-August, local steelmakers reduced the import of iron ore by 22.5% compared to 2021 – to 2.82 million tons.

Brazil accounts for 41% of total iron ore imports to Turkiye. South Africa is in the second place – 17%, 1.19 million tons (2.3 times more).

As GMK Center reported earlier, in August 2022, Ukraine reduced exports of iron ore by 7.8% compared to July, and by 60.9% to August last year – to 1.44 million tons. In January-August, Ukrainian steelmakers exported 20.01 million tons of iron ore, which is 23.8% less y/y.

The main producers of iron ore in Ukraine are Ingulets, Kryvyi Rih, Poltava, Northern, Central, Southern Minings, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, Sukha Balka Mining, and Zaporizhzhia Iron Ore Plant.

Also, in 2021, Turkiye has almost doubled its iron ore import from Ukraine compared to 2020 – up to 1.18 million tons. The share of Ukraine in the total volume of imports is 11%.