According to a statement issued by the Turkish Steel Producers’ Association (TCUD), crude steel output in Turkey rose by 25.4 percent year over year in November of last year to 2.99 million mt, placing it seventh in the world.
Turkey produced 30.5 million metric tonnes of crude steel from January to November of last year, a 6.1% decrease from the same period the previous year.
Turkey’s finished steel consumption increased by 30 percent to 3.2 million mt in November, and by 18.3 percent to 35.1 million mt from January to November of last year, year over year.
In November of this year, Turkey’s steel exports fell by 3% to 800,000 mt, and their value fell by 19.8% to $617.9 million, year over year. The nation’s steel exports dropped 34.4 percent to 9.4 million mt in the 1st 11 months of the year, and their value fell 43.4 percent to $7.5 billion, both year over year.
Turkey’s imports of steel rose by 12.4 percent to 1.2 million metric tonnes in the given month, but their value decreased by 0.1 percent to $1 billion, both annually.
Export-Import Dynamics: Decline in Steel Exports, Surge in Imports
The nation’s steel imports rose 18.3 percent to 16.0 million mt in the first 11 months of the year, year over year, but their value decreased by 4.9 percent to $13.7 billion.
Turkey’s steel export to import ratio fell to 54.52 percent in January–November of this year from 91.59 percent during the same period last year. The association claims that the Turkish steel industry was badly impacted by the decline in steel exports and the rise in imports.
In particular, there was a remarkable surge in the imports of wire rod from South Korea, Egypt, Malaysia, Russia, China, and the UK. The TCUD declared that it is critical to stop imports at subsidised and dumped prices, which resulted in a decline in the nation’s steel export to import ratio and the capacity utilisation.
It also recommended that Turkey review its inward processing regime in order to concentrate on producing goods for which it lacks the necessary capacity.
The association predicts that with the new capacities introduced in the 2nd half of 2023, Turkish steel output and exports will rise in 2024.