According to a statement released by the Turkish Iron and Steel Producers' Association (TCUD), due to general elections in June, weakening of Turkish lira against the US dollar, tightening margin between scrap and finished steel prices, worldwide overcapacity issues and Chinese pressure on Turkish mills, Turkish crude steel output continued to see downward trend.
In June, Turkey's crude steel production decreased by 4.5 percent year on year and rose by 2.6 percent month on month to 2.84 million metric tons. In June, Turkey's crude steel output by electric arc furnaces declined 8.9 percent to 1.9 million metric tons, while crude steel production by integrated plants increased by six percent to 942,000 metric tons, both year on year.
Meanwhile, in the first six months of the current year, Turkey's crude steel production decreased by 5.7 percent year on year to 16.19 million metric tons. In the given period, Turkey's crude steel output by electric arc furnaces declined 11.6 percent to 10.79 million metric tons, while production by integrated plants increased by 8.9 percent to 5.4 million metric tons, both year on year.
In the January-June period, Turkey's billet output decreased by 4.9 percent to 12 million metric tons, while its slab output declined by 7.7 percent to 4.19 million metric tons, both on year-on-year basis.