Murat Cebecioğlu, chairman of IREPAS, the global association for longs producers and exporters, has given the welcome speech at the SteelOrbis Fall 2024 Conference & 91st IREPAS Meeting taking place in Paris on September 15-17. The conference has attracted approximately 500 participants, including 140 representatives from 47 steel producers coming from 16 countries and 100 delegates from 57 raw material suppliers.
The IREPAS chairman said that the supply and demand balance in the global long steel industry is becoming more and more unstable. Explaining that Chinese finished steel products are dominating most markets both in the long and flat segments, he noted that the situation is close to what the market went through ten years ago and stressed that, if the Chinese continue in the same way, the global steel industry will suffer great damage.
Demand remains weak, according to Mr. Cebecioğlu, and the weakness in China is building up in the market, affecting expectations all over the world. As the long steel product segment is suffering from a lack of balance between supply and demand, everyone is fighting for every order. The IREPAS chairman said that the markets are in a bearish mood and are holding back.
Meanwhile, the level of competition is very strong, especially due to Chinese offers. He went on to say that significant challenges have been seen in recent times. The market is quite unstable, fluctuating with a not so promising outlook, he pointed out. However, he underlined that IREPAS is a very successful platform in difficult times in helping the industry overcome its difficulties.
