In February, exports of steel products amounted to 675 thousand tons with a decrease of 47.3% in terms of quantity and 582 million dollars with a decrease of 50.5% in terms of value.
In the January-February period, compared to the same period of 2022, exports amounted to 1.4 million tons with a decrease of 44.9% in quantity, and 1.2 billion dollars with a decrease of 49.5% in value.
Evaluating the Turkish steel industry, TÇUD gave the following statements in its statement:
Due to the earthquake that occurred in February 2023, as a result of production cuts in our steel plants, which have about 32% of Turkey's crude steel production capacity and production located in the Iskenderun and Osmaniye regions, there was a 28.9 percent decrease in production compared to the same month of the previous year, and the Turkish steel sector ranked 10th after Germany, Brazil and Iran with a crude steel production of 2 million 104 thousand tons.
"It is expected that the losses in exports will be partially compensated in the coming months"
Despite the reductions made, the negative impact of the increase in energy costs continued partially, and there was a 45% decrease in exports in the first two months of the year. It is noteworthy that countries such as Algeria and Egypt, which have comparative advantages in terms of natural gas, started to take a share from our export markets. In the event that natural gas prices are reduced to the price levels in Europe, it is expected that the losses in exports will be partially compensated in the coming months by increasing our competitiveness and targeting new markets such as the Balkans, and South America and Africa through trade delegation organizations.
"The increase in imports is worrying"
On the other hand, despite the 10% decrease in imports, the extraordinary increases in imports from countries such as Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam caused great discomfort in our steel industry. The postponement of the import duty decision on flat steel products, which was previously postponed to April 1, to May 1 this time, has increased the concerns that the deficit in steel foreign trade, which is currently extremely high, may grow even more.
As of February 2023, BOTAŞ announced that natural gas wholesale prices for large industrial establishments would be reduced, and that the reductions in natural gas tariffs used by industrialists would continue at the level of 20 percent; The start of production by the manufacturers operating in the earthquake zone created expectations that the production of our sector, which decreased in the first two months of 2023, will gradually improve as of the second quarter of the year.
"Scrap: on the critical raw materials list"
As a result of the increasing demand for scrap, which is the raw material of steel products obtained through recycling within the scope of green recycling, at the end of January, EUROFER made a request from the European Union to add scrap to the list of critical raw materials, and India gradually increased its demand for scrap within the scope of green recycling. It is vital to take the necessary measures to ensure that our sector does not encounter problems in accessing scrap.
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