The 6th YISAD Flat Steel Conference & SteelOrbis Market Talks held in Istanbul on April 4 gathered nearly 250 flat steel market participants. In his welcome speech, Gökhan Demiruz, chairman of Turkey's Association of Flat Steel Importers and Manufacturers (YISAD), said that the event aimed to analyze current market conditions, discuss opportunities and threats, and raise awareness among participants in terms of market developments and prices. He stressed that the protectionist measures seen throughout the world constitute the main concern of the Turkish flat steel industry, adding that Turkey should take the necessary steps to come through with minimum damage.
The YISAD chairman said that in 2017 Turkey’s flat steel consumption exceeded 17 million mt and is expected to reach 30 million mt by 2030 in line with the economic growth of the country. The global flat steel industry has a foreign trade volume of 220 million mt, while in 2017 Turkey’s flat steel export volume increased by 40 percent to 4.17 million mt and its flat steel imports increased by two percent to 8.4 million mt, both year on year. Mr. Demiruz stated that Turkey ranked eighth in crude steel production, 14th in flat steel exports and ninth in flat steel imports in 2017.
According to Mr. Demiruz, in 2017 30 percent of flat steel consumption in Turkey was accounted for by the welded pipe and beam sector, 25 percent by the machinery manufacturing sector, 15 percent by the construction sector, 10 percent by the automotive sector, seven percent by white appliance manufacturers, while three percent was accounted for by the shipbuilding sector.