Turkish rebar producer Izmir Demir Çelik Sanayi A.Ş. (IDC) has announced its financial results for the third quarter and the first nine months of 2013, stating that, despite low demand, firm prices are expected to move upward in the coming months due to higher raw material prices, resulting in the higher profit margin expectations for producers. Positive domestic demand is expected to revive ahead of local elections. Prices are likely to see a faster increase if the embargo on Iran is lifted and if neighboring countries regain stability.
In the third quarter, IDC registered a net loss of TRY 36.6 million ($18.3 million), compared to a net loss of TRY 2.3 million in the same quarter of the previous year. The company's sales revenues increased by 12.5 percent year on year to TRY 424.3 million ($212.2 million). In the given quarter, IDC recorded an operating loss of TRY 22.5 million ($11.25 million), compared to an operating profit of TRY 3 million in the corresponding quarter of 2012.
During the first nine months of the current year, IDC saw a net loss of TRY 84.6 million ($42.3 million), compared to net loss of TRY 922,313 in the corresponding period of 2012. IDC's sales amounted to TRY 1.23 billion ($615.2 million), down 4.7 percent year on year. In January-September, the company registered an operating loss of TRY 30.9 million ($15.4 million), down from an operating loss of TRY 32.4 million in the corresponding period of the previous year.
IDC has said that in the first nine months its steel billet output decreased slightly by 0.66 percent to 1,068,632 mt, while its rebar production reached 731,810 mt, increasing 3.24 percent, both year on year. Besides, 261,249 mt of rebar was also produced by the company's contractual partners in the given period. During the same period, the company produced 89,493 mt of steel sections at its medium section mill commissioned in January this year.
In January-September, IDC recorded a five percent year-on-year increase in its finished steel sales, amounting to 1,041,276 mt, while its steel billet sales totaled 21,205 mt. In the meantime, in the given period IDC's finished steel exports amounted to 607,526 mt, falling by 15 percent as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.