At the Sectoral View of the Turkish Industry: Iron and Steel Industry Conference held in Iskenderun, Turkey on March 21, Namık Ekinci, president of the Istanbul Iron and Steel Exporters' Association (CIB), and Umit Boyner, president of the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD), shared their views on the Turkish iron and steel sector.
In her speech, TUSIAD president Mrs. Boyner said that the Turkish iron and steel industry is now at a crucial point for the country's manufacturing sector, with its growing performance observed in the last 10 years, and that it has a strategic importance for the general performance of Turkey's manufacturing sector in regard to its rising output capacity, its export potential and its ability to provide intermediate input for several other sectors. Boyner also pointed that the iron and steel industry comprises eight percent of the country's total manufacturing sector, adding that Turkey has been the country with the biggest steel production growth rate in the world in the last 10 years, excepting China.
The TUSIAD president emphasized the importance of developing new proposals for investment in special steel in order to lighten the foreign trade load and to help add value to domestic production, adding that the Turkish iron and steel sector is mostly import dependent, especially in flat and special steel products and also in scrap and iron ore, which negatively affects Turkey's current account deficit. Mrs. Boyner concluded her speech by saying that, while the content of the government's planned incentive system has not yet been clarified, it should be applied equally in all sectors.
CIB president Mr. Ekinci started his speech by highlighting that the Iskenderun region plus Osmaniye have become the biggest steel production center in Turkey as a result of the recent investments made in the region. Mr. Ekinci added that the steel sector in the Iskenderun region produces the most needed products in a very large range including flat steel, profiles, rebar and structural steel, and also exports a significant volume of the products in question. The new capacities commissioned recently will increase the region's output to 13 million mt in 2012, he said. He also noted that the CIS's primary goal is to keep increasing the iron and steel sector's contribution to the Turkish economy in every respect.