Turkey's biggest integrated steelmaker Erdemir has stated that the market share of its steel sheet supply to the automotive industry has increased, rising to 36 percent in 2013 through direct sales and distribution channels from 25 percent in 2010. Erdemir CEO Ali Pandır said that Erdemir is targeting growth in sales this year despite the contraction in the automotive market, adding that the company expects to maintain its five-year growth trend in market share. Erdemir's shipments to the automotive industry in 2013 amounted to more than 600,000 mt.
According to Erdemir, 12 percent (1.7 million mt) of 14.6 million mt of flat rolled steel consumed in Turkey is used in the automotive industry, while the average passenger car is made up of 70 percent steel sheet, excluding wheel rims.
Mr. Pandır stated that attracting automotive investments to Turkey is possible through the capability of producing domestic steel sheet, underlining that localization and increasing the supplies from Erdemir are among the most important cost-saving projects of the automotive companies. He pointed out that recently automotive manufacturers' decisions to produce in Turkey has been based on the domestic steel sheet supply, while he went on to say that Erdemir's capability to produce and its investments are important factors for new automotive projects.
The Erdemir CEO said that the automotive industry and the flat steel segment in general in Turkey lack wide-gauge production in particular and Erdemir aims to meet this demand with its new galvanized steel sheet investment. Mr. Pandır said that the new investment will double Erdemir's galvanized steel sheet capacity to 330,000 mt and enable the company to produce many sizes that it could not produce before. The new galvanized steel sheet line will also support the company's export targets. With the commissioning of the new investment, Erdemir's market share will increase to 45-50 percent from 36 percent. Mr. Pandır said that, with the new galvanized steel sheet line, Erdemir's annual contribution to meet Turkey's current account deficit will gradually rise to $200 million.
According to Erdemir, its automotive sheet exports which it started two years ago doubled in 2103 and are expected to continue to increase in the current year, with the target markets being Europe and North Africa. Erdemir, which is a supplier of global automotive companies, aims to increase its automotive sheet exports by over 50 percent in 2014.
Additionally, the company's R&D department developed 75 new automotive sheet products in the last 10 years and 30 new products in the last three years. Erdemir said that, with the restructured R&D organization, the company expects to continue working on developing new automotive steel grades in the coming years.