Speaking to Turkish TV channel Bloomberg HT, Veysel Yayan, secretary general of the Turkish Steel Producers’ Association (TCUD), shared his year-end evaluations and expectations regarding the Turkish steel industry.
Saying that 2022 started with great hopes after the 13 percent increase in Turkey’s steel production in 2021, Mr. Yayan said, “We had no reason not to expect a growth of over 10 percent in steel production this year.” Recalling that consumption was lively, that the country’s production capacities were sufficient and that market conditions were positive until February when Russia invaded Ukraine, Mr. Yayan went on to state that market conditions have changed and that it is difficult to guess when the war will end.
Noting that Turkey was the country globally with the biggest fall in production, with a decrease of over 30 percent among 20 countries in November, the TCUD general secretary stated that Turkey’s steel production decreased by 12.3 percent in the first 11 months of the year. Expecting that the Turkish steel industry will close 2022 with a decrease of more than 13 percent in production, Yayan stated that global steel production will decrease by less than three percent. He also stated that the main reasons for the production decline were lower demand and the decrease in the competitiveness of the Turkish steel industry due to high energy costs, and added that Turkey cannot compete with countries such as Russia, India and China amid high costs.