The "Have Your Say - Steel Talks" which was organized by the Steel Foreign Trade Association of Turkey, was moderated by Mehmet Çakmur. Topics covered at the meeting were as follows;
- Turkish steel: world-renowned quality
- The importance of steel in earthquake resistant structures
- The functioning and current status of the world steel market
- Possible effects of price control on the steel market
- The impact of possible steel imports on the Turkish steel market and steel quality
Namık Ekinci made the opening speech of the meeting. Ekinci mentioned the situation in our country after the earthquake which occured on the 6th of February and expressed his sadness. On the subject, he said, “We produce steel well enough", but he emphasized that the application should be given more importance than production.
Technical inspections for imported products should be tightened
The Executive Board Member of Ekinciler, Hüseyin Soykan, first expressed his sadness about the earthquake and wished mercy to those who lost their lives and patience to those who remained. Soykan; “While many cities were affected by the earthquake, manufacturers, rolling mills, traders and all the links of the value chain were affected in Iskenderun. As the first step, we took steps regarding basic needs such as shelter and nutrition, and after that, damage controls were carried out in all factories. Currently, all factories in the region are operating at full capacity, except İsdemir. İsdemir is expected to start production at the end of the month. If a similar event had occurred in a different place in the world, the recovery of the sector would have taken at least 6 months or 1 year. As manufacturers, we gathered within 20-25 days. This shows the strength and dynamics of our industry."
He emphasized the importance of steel in the earthquake with the following words: “There is a value chain, land owner, contractor, project preparation, building permits and municipalities… In such a supply chain, we are a raw material provider sector. Turkish steel industry is a brand not only in our country but also in the world. The problem here arises from imported products. If not commercially, detailed technical analysis and inspection are required on quality. After the Van earthquake, Iranian iron, an imported product, came to the fore a lot and caused controversy. In short, we need to carry out very strict and up-to-date technical inspections of imported products before they enter the commercial dimension.
Bilecik Demir Çelik 'Muammer Bilgiç' referring to before and after 1982;
“Turkey's steel production increased from 2.5 million tons in 1980 to 40 million tons today, in 2023. We had 3 integrated facilities, we grew with electric arc furnaces. We preferred to grow with arc furnaces in terms of our scrap availability, this was the need of the country, the conjunctor was very suitable for this.”
‘China, the Gulf countries, Turkey supplied the steel for Singapore. We have met the quality steel needs in these regions. As a country, we have the ability to produce construction steel at all standards in the world.”
Baştuğ Metalurji Foreign Trade Manager Emrah Uğursal said, “Turkey 2022 production, 13 million of the 23 million production is consumed in the domestic market, and the other part is exports. The iron we need is easily met by the Turkish steel industry. Long product capacity is 35 million tons. There is no case of price fixation in construction steel.'
Scrap prices may continue to decline in the first weeks of April
Osman Türeyyen, General Manager of Metkim, expressed his evaluations about scrap as follows;
80/20 scrap prices were in the $415-425 band before the earthquake. At the end of February, this figure came to the $445-450 band and slowed down. Afterwards, it increased by $10-15 to $460-465 band. After the demand was met, the regression started as it would take 2-3 months for the works in the earthquake area to not start immediately. Scrap fell to $440-450 level. We anticipate that prices will continue to decline in the next two weeks.
Hüseyin Ocakçı, Member of YİSAD Supervisory Board, expressed his evaluations about flat steel with the following words;
We started with the lowest profitability after the earthquake, we traded without expecting a profit margin in the trade. We received a call on February 16, and we loaded 50 thousand tons of HRC in a week. Normally this is not possible. In 3-4 weeks, Turkey became the biggest market in China. Despite the high demand, the prices did not increase. It was a play around $20-25. This was because China's domestic market was weak. Flat steel prepared for the domestic market has been returned to export. Ore prices, on the other hand, started to decline last week. Their expectations for the flat steel market are, "There is a stagnation in the domestic market of China, it has stopped for 4-5 days due to the intense demand from Turkey. HRC is around $725-730 in China, but there is no demand.'
YİSAD's Sector Consultant Asuman Gürsoy explained the products transferred to the earthquake zone as follows;
"First of all, I wish mercy to the lives we lost and patience to those who are left and healing to the injured. On February 15, our ministry held a meeting. Ministry officials and producers participated. It was carried out under the e-mail control of associations and ministries at the request, offer and delivery stages. For now, a total of 102 thousand tons of sheet metal was needed. All galvanized for the container stopped orders and served the region and shifted the stocks to the earthquake zone."
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