Turkey increases steel import duties

The new duties are in effect until July 15, 2020, as per a decision by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to the country’s official gazette.

The import duty for semi-finished steel under HS code 7207 is now 17%, up from 12% previously, while the import duty for hot-rolled flat steel under HS code 7208 is now 18%, up from the previous 13%.

Cold-rolled coil producers and welded pipe producers now face an 8% duty for hot-rolled flat steel imports, up from 6% previously, while white goods producers face a 9% duty for the same product, up from the previous 7%.

The latest import duties for other steel products are as follows:

• cold-rolled flat steel under HS code 7209 is now 15%, up from 10%
• coated flat steel under HS code 7210 is now 20%, up from 15%
• hot-rolled flat steel under 600mm width under HS code 7211 is now 20%, up from 15%
• coated flat steel under 600mm width under HS code 7212 is now 20%, up from 15%
• sections and angles under HS code 7216 is now 22%, up from 17%
• stainless flat steel under HS code 7219 and 7220 is now 17%, up from 12%
• alloy semi-finished steel under HS code 7224 is now 19%, up from 14%
• alloy hot-rolled flat steel under HS code 72253090000 is now 11%, up from 6%
• alloy angles and sections under HS code 7228 is now 12-25%, up from 7-10%

Holders of Turkey’s inward processing regime license are exempt from the duty. The inward processing regime allows companies to avoid import duties on steel as long as the end-products – such as tubes or pipes, automotive steel or white goods – are exported. About 90% of flat steel imports are done so under the regime, according to a Turkish trader.

The duty increase is because of rising imports in the country despite low capacity utilization, according to market participants.

Turkey has 50.40 million tonnes per year of crude steel production capacity but produced only 33.7 million tonnes of crude steel in January-December 2019, down by 9.68% from 37.31 million tonnes in the corresponding months of 2018, according to the Turkish Steel Producers Association (TÇÜD).

Turkey imported 629,346 tonnes of flat steel in February 2020, up by 25.49% from 501,513 tonnes in the corresponding month of 2019, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).

Turkish buyers have placed several new flat steel orders in the recent weeks.

In early April, Russia’s MMK sold 15,000 tonnes of HRC at $380 per tonne cfr to Turkey, while fellow Russian NLMK sold about 30,000 tonnes of HRC at $380-390 per tonne cfr to Turkey.

A small volume below 5,000 tonnes was heard booked from a European origin at $370 per tonne cfr Turkey around the same time.

Last week, Russia sold 10,000 tonnes of HRC to Turkey at $370 per tonne cfr and another 20,000 tonnes of HRC at $360 per tonne cfr Turkey.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel HRC, import, cfr main port Turkey was $360-370 per tonne on April 17, down by $10-20 per tonne from $370-390 per tonne on April 9.