Speaking at the SteelOrbis Fall 2013 Conference & 69th IREPAS Meeting held in Istanbul on September 22-24, Dr. Veysel Yayan, general secretary of the Turkish Iron and Steel Producers' Association (TCUD), said that Turkey's steel consumption has been the driving force behind Turkish steel production growth in recent years. In particular, the growth of the domestic construction industry has been at the core of Turkey's increased steel consumption.
Yayan informed the participants that Turkey's crude steel output in the first eight months of 2013 decreased by 5.4 percent year on year to 22.8 million mt. He added that, although Turkey's billet production dropped by 3.8 percent in the January-August period, finished steel production increased by 1.2 percent, with the support of 36 percent growth in billet imports, all year on year. He also underlined that 2013 will be the first year that finished steel output will exceed crude steel output in Turkey - because of increased slab and billet imports.
Dr. Yayan pointed out that in 2013 long steel consumption is expected to account for around 53 percent of Turkey's total finished steel consumption, adding that, despite the increasing domestic demand, the Turkish steel industry has some surplus production which needs to find its way to the export markets. He went on to say that the Turkish steel industry is expected to continue to export around 10 million mt of long steel annually. Long steel products are expected to account for 72.9 percent of total finished steel production in Turkey in 2013, while Turkish crude steel output is expected to decline by 1.1 percent to 35.9 million mt compared to the previous year.
Demand conditions in the main export markets such as the EU, Middle East, Gulf region and North Africa have not improved satisfactorily due to political instability, said Dr. Yayan, while huge infrastructure investments, urban transformation projects and low interest rates have started to positively affect domestic steel demand in Turkey in the second half of the current year.
Meanwhile, the Turkish steel industry is concerned that the increasing tendency in the global markets to restrict exports of raw materials, especially ferrous scrap, might threaten the free trade of finished steel products, according to Yayan.
Finally, the TCUD general secretary forecast that Turkish scrap imports in 2013 will total around 20 million mt compared to 22.4 million mt in the previous year, while he added that domestic scrap supply in Turkey is supported by ship breaking activities and by new arisings from Turkish production.