A 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Turkey on February 6, which caused significant damage to many buildings and a large number of casualties.

Regarding the impact on the stainless steel market, market participants said that Turkey is one of China's import sources of chrome ore; however, China imports fewer chromium resources from Turkey, so the impact of the earthquake on China’s chromium supply is limited.

According to statistics, China’s chrome ore imports from Turkey totaled 949,000 tons in 2022, accounting for 6.3% of the total imports.

Nevertheless, the Port of Mersin, the main port for chrome ore shipment in Turkey, is currently temporarily out of operation, which was expected to affect the export of chromium resources.

Besides, Turkey's stainless steel production is low, and the major Turkish stainless steel mills are far from the epicenter, so the earthquake had little impact on the production and processing of local steel companies.

To sum up, the Turkish earthquake might affect local transportation, thereby restricting imports and exports, but the overall impact on stainless steel prices is minimal.