Speaking at the SteelOrbis Spring 2022 Conference & 86th IREPAS Meeting held in Istanbul on May 29-31, Dr. Veysel Yayan, general secretary of the Turkish Iron and Steel Producers' Association (TCUD), said that Turkey was one of the five countries which continued to record increased steel output during the pandemic. Turkey produced 35.8 million mt of crude steel in 2020, up 6.1 percent, and 40.4 million mt in 2021, up 12.7 percent, year on year. Mr. Yayan indicated that Turkey will continue to see growth and that this year its crude steel production will also rise, exceeding 40 million mt. Regarding capacity utilization rates, he said that, compared to 74.8 percent last year, this year will see a slight decrease but will still reach around 74 percent in the coming months.
According to the TCUD official, Turkey’s long steel production fluctuated last year, with a 26.8 million mt year-end level, partly because demand was stable and partly because some capacities were transferred to flat steel production as one of the biggest producers switched to flat products from long products. Mr. Yayan recalled that Turkey’s finished steel consumption amounted to 36 million mt in 2017, then sharply decreased to 26 million in 2019, because of the same reason, and in 2021 reached 33.4 million. He went on to say that a modest increase is expected for the current year, and, while 36.5 million mt of finished steel consumption had been expected this year, this number will now be lower amid deteriorating economic conditions and other unforeseeable developments. During the first three months of 2022, Turkey’s long steel consumption decreased by 14 percent year on year amid difficult credit conditions and customers’ negative expectations.
Commenting on capacity utilization of electric arc furnaces (EAF) and blast furnaces (BOF), Veysel Yayan said that in 2020 Turkey’s EAF share in total production was 69.2 percent, while the BOF share was 30.8 percent and, with the new capacities expected to come onstream in the coming period, the EAF share will reach around 73 percent. He pointed out that the higher level of EAF utilization will give Turkey an advantage in terms of climate change.
Turning to scrap imports, the TCUD official stated that Turkey has diversified sources of scrap, and that it is not dependent on scrap imports only from the US and EU. The US has the biggest share, while Venezuela is a newcomer and Libya is one of the other important countries as well.
Finally, Yayan said that Turkey’s steel consumption is also increasing very strongly, and, although there may be some fluctuations, consumption is not expected to decrease as the Turkish economy is dynamic and infrastructure needs still continue to exist. He added that long steel products will remain dominant in the Turkish steel industry, though exports are not as much as they used to be 10-15 years ago. The share of long product exports in Turkey’s total steel exports declined to 30 percent from 50 percent because exports shifted to flat products.