Turkey has increased import duties by up to 8 percentage points on coated and uncoated strip mill products with effect from January 1 2009, said a news report.

The move is seen as benefiting local producers, as well as exporting countries with which Turkey has a free trade agreement, Steel Business Briefing (www.steelbb.com) reported.

For hot rolled coil the import duty is now 13 per cent, up from the previous 5 per cent; CRC goes up from 6 per cent to 14 per cent; pre-painted is 15 per cent, up from the previous 12 per cent; and for hot-dip galvanised the duty has been raised from 14 per cent to 15 per cent, it said.

The HRC import duty for re-rollers is 5 per cent, up from the previous 3 per cent, the report added.

Turkish producers and traders think the changes will be to the advantage of Erdemir and other local producers.

According to Kayseri Metal Center (KMC), a Turkish steel service center and cold roller, Erdemir will be the star of 2009 in Turkish flats market.

Turkish market players told Steel Business Briefing that countries like Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, which have free trade agreements with Turkey, will boost their share of the Turkish import market.

European mills are not expected to gain as their prices are uncompetitive and European supply is not sufficient for Turkey which imports about 7 million tonnes of strip products annually. Russia and Ukraine are among the largest suppliers,  Turkish sources said.

Traders who have cargoes on the way to Turkey are expected to suffer losses in the short term, sources added.