The excessive increase in local rebar prices in Turkey should be stopped before the Turkish construction sector experiences a crisis, Turkey’s Construction Contractors Confederation (IMKON) has stated in a press release.
In the statement, IMKON highlighted that, although Turkey is one of the top five iron and steel producing countries with the country’s iron and steel production about double its iron and steel consumption, rebar prices in Turkey have risen by about 70 percent since the beginning of this year, putting the construction sector’s sustainability in difficulty.
IMKON stated that, in their view, with the rise of input costs such as scrap, coal and electrodes in iron and steel production, iron and steel prices have increased worldwide, especially in China; and Turkish iron and steel producers wanted to profit from this situation and sell rebar which they have already produced and even give sales commitments for rebar which they have yet to produce to foreign customers with the ambition of earning more, regardless of the supply-demand balance in the domestic market.
According to the statement, the Turkish construction sector is facing a serious lack of rebar in the current situation and the government must inevitably reduce rebar prices with its own decision mechanisms, or otherwise the sector will be dragged into a crisis.
Among its possible solutions to the issue, IMKON suggested that VAT on rebar should be reduced to nine percent from 18 percent, at least temporarily.