In response to a tweet by UK-based steel producer Celsa UK posted on February 20 which said that, if every metric ton of Turkish rebar imported in 2016 was produced by Celsa UK, the UK could make savings of 24,000 metric tons of CO2, the Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB) and the Turkish Steel Producers’ Association (TCUD) have jointly stated that, considering the fact that rebar production in Turkey takes place in electric arc furnaces (EAF) under the most environment friendly conditions in the world with a maximum of 300 kg of emissions per metric ton of steel, it would be impossible to calculate an extra 24,000 metric tons of CO2 even including the emissions from the shipment and transport of rebar. Furthermore, it would be possible to raise a similar argument with regard to Turkey’s steel imports from EU countries, which are about double Turkey’s steel exports to the EU, the TCUD and CIB statement said.
According to the TCUD and CIB, it would be more appropriate for producers complaining about the additional costs to be introduced by the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) reform to explain to the European Parliament that the EU ETS reform targets are too burdensome rather than issuing statements based on unrealistic data.