According to a statement released by the Turkish Steel Producers' Association (TCUD), Turkish crude steel output in July this year increased by 8.4 percent month on month and was down by 10.6 percent year on year to 2.9 million mt. In the given month, Turkey's crude steel output by electric arc furnaces fell by 7.1 percent, and the production by integrated plants fell by 18.3 percent, both year on year. The more-than-expected decline in the output of integrated plants was caused by the failure of Erdemir’s blast furnace in June, while, according to market estimations, the resulting production loss was 300,000-350,000 mt.
In the January-July period, Turkish crude steel output fell to 19.9 million mt, down 10.2 percent year on year. In the same period, Turkey's crude steel output by electric arc furnaces declined by 12 percent to 13.5 million mt, while production by integrated plants decreased by 6.2 percent to 6.4 million mt, both year on year.
In the first seven months of this year, Turkey's billet output decreased by 16.8 percent to 12.3 million mt, while its slab output rose by three percent to 7.5 million mt, both compared to the corresponding period of last year.