Turkiye to increase exports of steel products in 2024 – forecast

Exports of steel products from Türkiye are expected to grow this year, and steel production may exceed 40.4 million tons by 2024. This forecast was shared by Veysel Yayan, Secretary General of the Turkish Steel Association (TCUD), during the Eurometal Steel Day & YISAD Flat Steel conference. This is reported by SteelOrbis.

According to him, Türkiye’s steel industry shows trends that are different from the country’s economy as a whole.

Türkiye’s overall economy grew by 5.6% and 4.5% in 2022 and 2023, while the steel sector declined by 12.9% and 4.0%, respectively. The global capacity utilization rate in the industry has been 75-80% in recent years, while in the Turkish steel industry it was 56.8% last year. According to the TCUD Secretary General, it is expected to rise to at least 70% in the future.

Yayan attributes the poor performance of Türkiye’s steel sector, in particular, to competition from China, which has also had a global impact.

According to TCUD, in January 2024, steel production in Türkiye increased by 24.7% y/y (to 3.2 million tons), flat steel consumption by 33.6% y/y, and February’s figures are even more encouraging, said Veysel Yayan.

The Secretary General of the Turkish Steel Association also commented on the country’s decarbonization efforts. He noted that the country was subject to the same safeguard measures as China, Vietnam, Taiwan and South Korea, although it is seen as equal to the EU countries in terms of green transformation.

«The EU sees Turkey as a threat, and it hurts both sides,» Yayan noted.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2023, Türkiye’s steelmakers reduced steel production by 4% compared to 2022, to 33.714 million tons, according to the World Steel Association. Last year, the average monthly steel production in the country amounted to 2.81 million tons, down 4.04% y/y.