The Turkish Steel Producers' Association (TCUD) has released a statement regarding the recent increase in rebar prices in Turkey and the accusations that Turkish rebar producers have on purpose avoided raising their capacity utilization rates.
The TCUD stated that during the first four months of the current year Turkish steelmakers focused on the export markets due to the stagnation in the domestic construction sector and the increasing demand from export markets; however, starting from June, producers gave priority to the domestic market. Accordingly, Turkish rebar exports started to decline both in volume and value after June this year.
The TCUD stated that the reduction of import duty on rebar imports in Turkey did not help to reduce rebar prices in the domestic market. It added that it is not a realistic approach to claim that prices will decline only by lowering duties without analyzing the factors affecting prices.
According to the TCUD, scrap prices, which were at levels of $250-280/mt until July this year, have increased to $300-330/mt, while iron ore prices have risen to $49.25-92.55/mt, with graphite electrode prices moving up to $30,000/mt from $2,500/mt recorded in late 2016. In addition, exchange rates have also increased significantly.
As a result, all evaluations made about rising prices irrespective of the abovementioned information are to the detriment of the Turkish steel industry, the Turkish economy, exports and also employment, the TCUD stated, and added that it is unrealistic and unfair to blame from a superficial standpoint Turkish steel producers for price increases without taking account of the global and regional developments affecting the prices in the domestic market.