China remains Turkey's top seamless pipe supplier in 2019

Bursa — Turkish imports of seamless pipes fell in 2019 to 223,800 mt, down from the 257,500 mt imported in 2018, as an industrial slowdown and low infrastructure investments limited pipe demand in Turkey last year.

The cost of these imports also fell to $307.3 million in 2019, compared to $342.4 million in 2018, according to the latest TUIK data sent to S&P Global Platts.

Despite a significant 14% year-on-year decline in import volumes, China remained Turkey's main seamless pipe supplier in 2019 at 111,800 mt with its competitive prices.

Turkey's 2019 seamless pipe imports from Ukraine totaled 37,700 mt, up from 24,800 mt imported in 2018, while imports from Germany totaled 17,200 mt. Turkey also imported 10,800 mt of seamless pipe from Romania in 2019.

As Turkish industry sources are expecting 2020 to be a recovery year in industrial production and infrastructure investments are expected to rise, seamless pipe imports into Turkey could also remain firm this year.