Turkey-based IDC expects demand recovery in emerging markets in H2

Turkish rebar producer Izmir Demir Çelik Sanayi A.Ş. (IDC) has announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2013, stating that in the second half of the year it expects the global economic growth rate to improve especially with the support of emerging countries, and, with this growth, demand in emerging countries is anticipated to increase. IDC expects a recovery in the Middle East and North Africa in the second half will positively affect demand in the region with protective measures and political uncertainties overcome.
 
In the first quarter, IDC registered a net loss of TRY 11.04 million ($5.83 million), compared to a net profit of TRY 9.46 million in the first quarter of the previous year. The company's sales revenues decreased by 21.6 percent year on year to TRY 382.9 million ($202.52 million). In the given quarter, IDC posted an operating loss of TRY 7 million ($3.7 million), compared to an operating loss of TRY 9.45 million in the corresponding quarter of 2012.
 
IDC has said that in the given period it increased both its steel billet and rebar production by 2.86 and 6.76 percent respectively on year-on-year basis, with its steel billet output reaching 372,130 mt and its rebar production increasing to 250,541 mt. Besides, 80,106 mt of rebar was also produced by the company's contractual partners in the given period.
 
In the first quarter, IDC recorded a 16 percent year-on-year decrease in its finished steel sales, amounting to 312,456 mt, while its steel billet sales totaled 20,706 mt. In the meantime, in the first quarter this year IDC's finished steel exports amounted to 191,162 mt, falling by 28 percent as compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year.