Speaking at the extraordinary general meeting of the Turkish Steel Producers' Association (TCUD) held on March 22, Fuat Tosyalı, chairman of both Turkish steelmaker Tosyalı Holding and of the TCUD, stated that in the second half of 2016, despite the political unrest caused by the failed coup attempt and the contraction of domestic steel demand, the Turkish steel industry continued its growth trend with the support of external conditions and declining imports.
According to Mr. Tosyalı, Turkish crude steel production which had decreased each year in the 2012-2015 period showed a year-on-year increase of 5.2 percent in 2016. However, despite the decline in imports, the share of imported products in steel consumption in Turkey stood at the very high level of 51 percent in 2016 and the industry’s capacity utilization rate was at 65 percent, with 18 million mt of unused capacity, he added.