According to a statement released by the Turkish Iron and Steel Producers' Association (DCUD), in February this year Turkey's crude steel production rose by 12.3 percent year on year but was down 11.9 percent or 373,000 mt month on month, totaling 2.76 million mt. The association said that the month-on-month decrease was due to the electric power cuts seen in February. In January this year, Turkey's crude steel output had reached its highest-ever monthly production volume of 3.14 million mt.
In February, of the total crude steel production in Turkey, steel production using electric arc furnaces (EAF) amounted to 2 million mt, with a decrease of 14 percent, while production via blast furnaces fell by 5.6 percent to 746,833 mt, both compared to January this year.
In the first two months of 2012, Turkey's steel billet output moved up by 15 percent to 4.4 million mt, and its slab output climbed by nine percent to 1.5 million mt, both on year-on-year basis. The limited increase in the slab production in January-February indicate that the newly established flat steel capacites in Turkey have been underperforming.
The association commented that low capacity utilization rate was due to ongoing import pressure. In January this year, Turkey's flat steel exports fell 32 percent year on year to 84,000 mt, while in February its flat steel exports decreased to 148,000 mt, down 20 percent year on year, according to the preliminary data. Meanwhile, Turkey's flat steel imports rose 16 percent compared to the same month of the previous year, to 489,000 mt.
2009 | 2010 | 2011 | Jan-Feb 2011 | Jan-Feb 2012 | Year-on year change (%) | |
20,524 | 21,827 | 24,400 | 3,804 | 4,374 | 15 | |
4,779 | 7,316 | 9,707 | 1,397 | 1,523 | 9 | |
Total | 25,303 | 29,143 | 34,107 | 5,201 | 5,897 | 13.4 |
EAF | 17,741 | 20,905 | 25,275 | 3,857 | 4,359 | 13 |
BOF | 7,562 | 8,238 | 8,832 | 1,344 | 1,538 | 14.4 |
Tonnage figures are x 1,000 mt.
On the other hand, the association forecasts that Turkish mills' crude steel production in 2012 will reach 38 million mt, despite all negative factors.