Speaking at the SteelOrbis 2016 Spring Conference & 74th IREPAS Meeting being held in Lisbon on April 10-12, Murat Cebecioglu from Turkish steel producer ICDAS, chairman of IREPAS and also of the producers committee, said that producers are finally observing exciting times for the steel industry after a depressing period and have started to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
The producers committee chairman stated that the increase in Chinese billet prices and higher iron ore prices have given a boost to the markets in general. This upward movement has been backed by most of the traditional markets and domestic prices in these markets have increased as well. Commenting on the different regions, Mr. Cebecioglu said that the EU is expected to see moderate growth in 2016 with the construction industry growing at a better pace than in 2015; however, the economy does not allow it to grow at a much faster pace. Looking at the Gulf region, he said that the demand outlook remains positive with Expo 2020 in Dubai and the World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
According to Mr. Cebecioglu, 2015 was not a good year for Ukraine, while 2016 is expected to be on the positive side. Regarding Russia, he said that the country’s economy shrank considerably in 2015 and is not expected to grow much in 2016 either. On the other hand, all indicators are showing positive signs for Turkish exports and steel consumption in Turkey will be decent with many ongoing and planned infrastructure projects.