According to a statement released by the Turkish Iron and Steel Producers' Association (TCUD), the slowdown in Turkish crude steel production experienced since the last quarter of 2012 deepened in August of the current year, affected by the strike at Iskenderun-based Isdemir and by the Ramadan holiday.
In August, Turkish crude steel output decreased by 8.7 percent compared to July to 2.58 million mt, while it registered a stronger decline of 15.4 percent year on year. In August, Turkey's crude steel production via blast furnaces amounted to 592,000 mt, falling seven percent compared to the previous month and was down 30.2 percent year on year, while crude steel production using EAFs was 1.98 million mt, falling 9.7 percent compared to the same month of 2012 but down 9.2 percent over July this year.
In the first eight months of the current year, Turkey's crude steel output amounted to 22.8 million mt, down 5.4 percent year on year. The decrease rate which was four percent during January-July period increased due to the contraction seen in August. In the January-August period, steel production using EAFs amounted to 16.44 million mt, with a decrease of 9.2 percent, while production via blast furnaces rose by 5.8 percent to 6.36 million mt, both compared to the same period of 2012.
In January-August this year, Turkey's steel billet output moved down by 3.8 percent to 17.45 million mt, compared to the same period of the previous year. In the given period, slab output decreased by 10.4 percent year on year to 5.34 million mt, as electric arc furnaces reduced slab production because of the contraction in flat product markets and tightened margins amid higher scrap costs.