Turkey has increased its import duty for a range of flat steel products including hot- and cold-rolled coil, according to an email by the country's metal import and export association Yisad obtained by Platts Monday.

 

The email dated January 2 gives details of amendments to Turkey's import tax regime. Duty on hot-rolled coil imports will be increased to 13% from 5% previously, while cold-rolled coil jumps to 14% from 6%. Steel plate imports will be subject to a 15% duty. Ferrous scrap is still exempt from any import duty.

 

A local trader said the government had increased import taxes to protect the local steel industry from cheaper imports. "We were expecting this. Erdemir [a Turkish steel producer] wasn't selling because of cheap imports, especially from Ukraine."

 

A sales agent at a Ukrainian mill responded to Platts that the move wouldn't have much of an impact as recent sales to Turkey had been minimal anyway. A UK-based trader disagreed: "Turkey is one of Ukrainian steelmakers' most important markets, in part because of its size and proximity, but also because Turkish buyers (and tube mills in particular) are more tolerant about the relatively low quality standards of Ukrainian steel products."

 

In 2007, Turkey produced 25.8 million mt of crude steel, making it the 11th steel-producing country in the world. –Platts