According to the information received from the Turkish Steel Producers Association (TÇÜD), the Turkish steel industry completed the first quarter of the year with a decrease in production and an increase in consumption.
Turkey’s crude steel production decreased by 18.6 percent in March compared to the same month of the previous year and became 2.7 million tons. In the first quarter of the year, production decreased by 21.5 percent to 7.4 million tons.
Final product consumption was calculated as 3.4 million tons in March with an increase of 33.7 percent compared to the same month of the previous year, and 8.9 million tons with an increase of 4.9 percent in the first quarter of the year.
Foreign trade data
Compared to March 2022, exports of steel products amounted to 810.6 thousand tons with a decrease of 52.8 percent in terms of quantity and 725.1 million dollars with a decrease of 54.3 percent in terms of value.
In the January-March period, compared to the same period of 2022, exports amounted to 2.2 million tons with a decrease of 48.3 percent in terms of quantity and 1.9 billion dollars with a decrease of 51.5 percent in terms of value.
Steel products imports, on the other hand, reached 1.7 million tons with an increase of 42.9 percent in terms of quantity and 1.4 billion dollars with an increase of 5.9 percent in terms of value, compared to the same month of 2022.
Imports increased by 5.9 percent in terms of quantity compared to the same period of the previous year and reached 4.1 million tons in the January-March period. In terms of value, imports decreased by 16.8% to 3.5 billion dollars.
The ratio of exports to imports, which was 92.6 percent in the first quarter of last year, decreased to 53.9 percent in the first quarter of this year.
“Expectations for the compensation of production loss gained strength in the second quarter of the year”
TÇÜD Secretary General Veysel Yayan said that the decrease in steel production in the first quarter of the year was also due to the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes that occurred on 6 February.
Stating that the production in the region, which decreased to 227 thousand tons in February with the start of the activities of the steel producers in the earthquake region, increased to 534 thousand tons in March, Yayan said, “Turkey’s total crude steel production was 2.7 million tons in March with an increase of 28.9 percent compared to the previous month. The steel industry, which fell to the 10th rank in the world crude steel production ranking according to the production amounts in the first two months of the year, surpassed Italy in the first 3 months of the year and rose to the 9th rank with the effect of the recovery in production in March. Expectations that the production loss will be fully compensated have gained strength.” he said.
Pointing out that Russia and Far East countries, which made state-supported production and dumped exports in the first quarter of this year, could not export to the USA and the EU, Yayan said:
“For this reason, their continued concentration on the Turkish market, the postponement of customs duties on flat products, caused flat product exports to decrease by 36.4 percent and imports to increase by 32.2 percent. This situation played an important role in the growth of the foreign trade deficit in our country’s steel industry and last year’s The ratio of exports to imports, which was 92.6 percent in the first quarter, decreased by 53.9 percent, raising the concerns that flat product imports would increase and the steel foreign trade deficit would widen gradually in May. Our steel industry, which had a contraction in export data compared to the same month, regained its competitiveness in global markets with discounts applied to natural gas and electricity used in the industry, production and export figures entered a gradual improvement process in April and May, and remained stable as of June, leaving 2022 production levels behind. expected.”
