Turkey’s IDC expects better overseas demand in Q4, posts loss despite higher sales

Turkish rebar producer Izmir Demir Çelik Sanayi A.Ş. (IDC) has said that the signs of revival in North African markets, primarily in Egypt and Libya, in terms of steel demand, along with the recovery in the US and Canadian domestic markets, have raised hopes for Turkey's steel export performance in the last quarter of this year.
 
Announcing its production and financial results for the January-September period of this year, IDC has said that in the given period it increased both its steel billet and rebar production by 17.5 and 16.38 percent respectively on year-on-year basis, with its steel billet output reaching 1,075,694 mt and its rebar production increasing to 708,847 mt. Besides, 247,105 mt of rebar was also produced by the company's contractual partners in the given period.
 
In the January-September period, IDC recorded a 12 percent year-on-year increase in its finished steel sales, amounting to 989,340 mt, while its steel billet sales totaled 46,012 mt. In the meantime, in the first nine months of this year, IDC's finished steel exports reached 721,964 mt, rising by 29 percent as compared to January-September 2011. The company's exports accounted for 73 percent of its total production.
 
Despite its increased production and sales revenue in the given period, the company recorded an operating loss of about TRY 15 million ($8.4 million), compared to an operating profit of TRY 55.34 million for the same period last year, due to its narrower profit margin since its productions costs dropped later than its sales prices. The company's sales revenues totaled TRY 1.25 billion ($700 million) in the first nine months of this year, up by 18 percent year on year.