Turkish steelmakers support the introduction of tariffs on HRC imports

Last week, Turkish authorities decided to impose anti-dumping duties on imports of hot-rolled coils from China, India, Japan and Russia. This initiative was met with a positive response from the Turkish steel industry, which believes that the new duties could have a positive impact on local production and increase the industry’s competitiveness, SteelOrbis reports.

Veysel Yayan, Secretary General of the Turkish Steel Association (TÇÜD), welcomed the decision, noting that a 1% reduction in steel consumption in China creates an oversupply of 10 million tons, which is then exported to global markets.

According to him, in 2023, China exported 94 million tons of steel, and this volume could grow to 120 million tons this year. Yayang emphasized that this situation makes China a threat to the steel industry worldwide.

“Balancing steel imports will have a positive impact not only on the steel industry but also on other steel-consuming sectors, and the potential increase in the use of local products will be important for the Turkish economy,” added Veysel Yayan.

Ugur Dalbeler, Deputy Chairman of the Turkish Steel Exporters Association (ÇİB), also commented on the situation, noting that the decision to introduce the duties was based on the industry’s long-standing demands. He emphasized that Turkish steel mills have been operating at 50-55% capacity utilization, which is one of the lowest rates in the world. For comparison, this figure is 90% in China and 70% in India.

“China’s aggressive export policy has severely damaged the global steel market, and Turkey has become the only Western market for Chinese exports, as major markets such as Europe and the US have been protected by safeguard measures since 2018,” comments Ugur Dalbeler.

According to him, the new anti-dumping duties may help to increase the utilization of production capacity in Turkey, which will allow local steel producers to increase their competitiveness in export markets.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Turkey’s imports of hot-rolled steel plates in January-August 2024 decreased by 19.6% compared to the same period in 2023, to 2.44 million tons. China increased its supplies by 7.6% y/y – to 1.24 million tons, the Russian Federation decreased by 58.5% y/y – to 220.37 thousand tons, and Japan by 77.8% y/y – to 87.04 thousand tons.