On March 12, Turkish integrated steelmaker Erdemir released its financial results for 2008.
Accordingly, in 2008, the company registered a net profit of TRY 211.47 million ($122 million), down by 69 percent compared with the net profit of TRY 679.4 million ($385.4 million) in 2007. The company recorded a TRY 1.19 billion ($675 million) loss for the fourth quarter of 2008.
Analysts' forecasts for Erdemir had been for the company to register a net profit of TRY 1.08 billion ($612 million) in 2008, while they expected a net loss of TRY 325 million ($184.2 million) for the fourth quarter of 2008.
Moreover, Erdemir's sales rose 27 percent to TRY 6.809 billion ($3.86 billion) in 2008 from TRY 5.357 billion ($3.036 billion) a year earlier.
On Tuesday, March 10, Erdemir chairman Coskun Ulusoy stated, "I do not see demand recovering significantly. Global steel demand and prices have tumbled since mid-2008, as recession slashed demand from key steel consumer sectors such as automotive and construction, forcing steelmakers across the globe to reduce production sharply. We are talking about five years to go back to the good old days. Long steel is not going to be a happy story this year, while demand from Dubai, the main export market for that material, has dried up. The bleak demand outlook in the USD 800 billion-worth steel industries has forced the company to give second thoughts to its expansion plans. Erdemir have some $1.7 billion worth of investment plans for the next several years, which are now frozen due to the economic downturn."
Mr Ulusoy also stated that the deterioration in demand in Q4 2008 will be visible in the year-end results. The year-end results will not be as favorable as we hoped, simply because of the last quarter, he added.