Sharing the conclusions of the producers committee meeting with the participants at the SteelOrbis 2018 Fall Conference & 79th IREPAS Meeting held in Istanbul on September 16-18, Murat Cebecioglu from Turkish steel producer ICDAS, chairman of IREPAS and also of the producers committee, stated, “The name of the game today is protectionism. It has become a bargaining chip”. He stressed that Turkey is flexible and will find new markets to replace the US, though he added that producers in general are concerned that there will be an even further surge in protectionist measures if countries do not come together to discuss the issue at the World Trade Organization (WTO) level. Regarding the price increases and expectations of higher profits for steel producers in the US following the introduction of trade measures, Mr. Cebecioglu said that the US mills are effectively shaping US trade policy.
Commenting on the retroactive duties Canada imposed on Turkish rebar, the IREPAS chairman remarked that Canada has started three cases against Turkey within one year, adding that the producers committee does not know what to expect concerning Canada’s measures on steel imports in response to the US measures, but he believes this will become clearer within a couple of weeks.
Mr. Cebecioglu stated that the US has to continue importing rebar as its domestic capacity is not sufficient. As a result, a lot of countries are expected to increase their share in the US market, such as Portugal and Spain, and he added that even Bulgaria has started to export rebar to the US. Regarding Turkey, with the US market closed to Turkish imports, the IREPAS chairman said that Yemen has become the number one export market for Turkish long products, and he also underlined that Turkey has a very structured domestic rebar market and so the absence of the US as an export market will not have any downward effect on Turkey’s production. He also listed the Far Eastern and North African countries as target markets for Turkey.