During the panel discussion at the SteelOrbis Market Talks Meeting held in Turkey's capital Ankara on April 12, Veysel Yayan, general secretary of the Turkish Iron and Steel Producers' Association (DCUD), informed participants that Turkey produced 8.5 million mt of crude steel in the first quarter of the current year, down 5.9 percent year on year. Dr. Yayan said that despite the decrease in crude steel output during the final months of 2012 the Turkish steel industry had managed to close the year with an overall good performance with the help of the positive figures for the second quarter. However, the downward trend seen at the end of last year has also been evident so far in 2013.
Yayan pointed out that the steelmakers using scrap as raw material are experiencing a very difficult period for the first time in a long while, adding that the margin between scrap costs and finished steel prices is under $200/mt, and that this has resulted in production cuts. The DCUD general secretary underlined that there has not been any decline in consumption, with steel imports increasing by 38 percent in the first two months of 2013. In the given period, flat steel imports rose by 16 percent year on year.
In response to comments about the effect of imported scrap on creation of added value, Dr. Yayan said that the value of Turkey's scrap imports totaled $12.9 billion in 2012, decreasing by 3.6 percent year on year, while the added value of the steel industry was $24.4 billion. In the event of a decrease in scrap imports, Turkey will have to import slab and billets and imports of semi-finished products that can be produced domestically will have a negative impact on employment.
Dr. Yayan indicated that Turkey's free trade agreement with the EU has started to work only in favor of the EU, with the EU allowing other countries to trade with zero tariffs, while Turkey's trading arrangements with third parties have remained unchanged. The DCUD official interpreted the EU's decision to sign new free trade agreements with several countries during the economic crisis period as an effort to enter markets to which it has not had access.