KARDEMİR (Karabük Demir ve Çelik Fabrikaları A.Ş.) held its Ordinary General Assembly Meeting at KARDEMİR Education and Culture Center. The meeting started with the opening speech of İsmail Demir, Chairman of the Board. In his speech, Demir emphasized the importance of strategic management against the fluctuations in the global steel market and shared the company's performance for 2024 with the public in detail.
“When you are operating in a sector such as iron and steel, which is the locomotive of economies, and there are geopolitical problems that have been ongoing for years in your geography, this situation increases the importance of strategic management even more,” Demir stated, adding that 2024 was a critical period for the company in this context.
“2024 was the year strategic plans were put into practice”
“Successful strategic management was inevitable to avoid the consequences of global developments. The year 2024 was a turning point when these strategic plans were created and started to be implemented. In order to carry KARDEMİR to sustainable success in the second century of our Republic, we have determined a road map within the framework of common sense with our Board of Directors and senior management. Because we know that no wind will benefit a ship that does not know where it is going,” he stated.
“We increased our crude steel production by 4.8%”
Stating that KARDEMİR increased its crude steel production by 4.8% from 2 million 394 thousand 312 tons to 2 million 510 thousand 463 tons in 2024, Demir stated, “Our net finished product production increased by 3.22% from 2 million 319 thousand 823 tons to 2 million 394 thousand 511 tons. In 2024, one of the most challenging years for the global steel industry, we sold 2 million 232 thousand 525 tons of basic products. In addition, we reached record production levels in 14 different areas, including the production of liquid crude iron, liquid steel, crude steel and finished products.”
“We achieved a 47.2% increase in exports”
Demir also mentioned the export performance and added the following: “In 2024, we exported a total of 38,185 tons, including 10,162 tons of profiles, 19,533 tons of rails, 4,309 tons of wheels and 4,181 tons of coils. This means a 47.2% increase in export volume compared to the previous year. Our export revenues increased by 13.8% from USD 29 million to USD 33 million. The limited increase in revenue compared to the increase in quantity clearly reflects the price pressures in world steel markets in 2024.”
“Türkiye was the country that increased its production the most”
Stating that world crude steel production decreased by 0.9% to 1 billion 839.4 million tons in 2024, Demir stated, “On the other hand, Türkiye was the country that increased its production the most in this period with a production increase of 9.4% and produced 36.8 million tons of crude steel in total.”
Referring to the balance of imports and exports, Demir noted, “In 2024, the increase in Türkiye's imports of steel products slowed down compared to the previous year and amounted to 1.7%. Türkiye, which suffered a 30.6% loss in exports the previous year, achieved a 16% increase in exports this year. The ratio of exports to imports increased from 56.6% in 2023 to 74% in 2024.”
“Our 2025 target: 2.5 million tons of sales”
Demir explained the targets they set for 2025 as follows: “We have set our total sales target at 2.5 million tons. Our main export target is to deliver our high value-added products such as railway rails, wheels, wheel sets, coils, SBQ and profile products to the European Union, the Middle East, North Africa and South America. In this context, we signed a strategic cooperation agreement with AMSTED Rail, the world's largest integrated railroad equipment and cast wheel manufacturer based in the US. This cooperation is an important step towards increasing innovation and efficiency in the sector.”
“We aim to increase capacity in rolled products”
Referring to KARDEMİR's investment plans, Demir stated, “With this investment, we aim to increase our rolled products production capacity by 50% to 2.3 million tons per year. Today, as we did yesterday, we are determined to take every step to protect and develop this great and strategic facility of our country.”
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