Speaking at the "New Horizons in Global Steel Markets" 14th Annual Conference organized by SteelOrbis in Istanbul on November 6, Tayfun İşeri, international affairs direction of Turkish steelmaker Çolakoğlu Metalurji, stated that there is a serious tendency toward protectionism, with the US complaining the most and Turkey the least, and with China trying to defend itself more than any other country. “Everyone is taking measures against us, with our production totaling 35-36 million metric tons. I cannot understand this either,” he added.
Mr. İşeri stated that Turkey is the most open country to imports, procuring 46 percent of its total consumption from imports, while the US is second in line with imports accounting for 27 percent of its consumption. He pointed out that the US’ share in Turkey’s exports was 20 percent before the Section 232 measures, declining to 10 percent after the 25 percent duty, and following the imposition of the 50 percent duty Turkey’s exports to the US shrank to zero. He also indicated that Turkey’s steel exports to the US have remained at a standstill even after the decision of Trump to cut the duty to 25 percent, because there is no import duty on Canadian or Mexican steel imports, and also given the quota systems initiated for some Far Eastern countries and for Brazil.
İşeri drew attention to the fact that the US has been a country with its own balance, with production generally totaling 80-90 million metric tons and imports of 30-40 million metric tons, while consuming 120-130 million metric tons. However, he added that destabilization in the US started in 2018 with the Section 232 duty, and that the US reopened all steel plants - mostly closed for 10-15 years and having very high operational costs - even though they are not useful, but did this just for show. Stating that the US is now closing all these plants due to oversupply issues as well as the decreasing trend of prices, the Çolakoğlu official added that industrialists have benefitted much from the Section 232 duties, particularly long steel producers, as they added more than 1.5-2 million metric tons of new capacity to their original production. In this period, the total US capacity utilization rate increased from around 70 percent to above 80 percent, he noted, adding that flat steel sales from Turkey to the US are currently not possible and that he does not know when flat steel exports to the US may restart since flat steel quotations in the US market have been moving down.