Turkey’s steel imports from China, the country Turkey imports from the most after Russia, increased by 84% in the first seven months of the year.

“It is vital to prevent China from sending the surplus production caused by the contraction in their construction sector to our country, to convert the increases that will occur in the last quarter of the year due to the base effect into real increases, and to increase the contribution of the steel industry to close the current account deficit,” says Turkish Steel Producers Association (TCUD) general secretary Veysel Yayan.

Turkey’s July crude steel production increased 7.7% on-year to 2.9 million tonnes. This was the first increase in production in 14 months, notes Kallanish.

Production in January-July fell 13.3% on-year to 18.8mt, carrying Turkey to eighth place after Germany in world steel production.

July finished steel consumption soared 26.9% on-year to 3.4mt, while January-July consumption increased by 17.1% to 23.3mt thanks to the increase in domestic demand as a result of the revival of the construction sector.

Exports of steel products, however, declined 27.4% in July to 851,700t, while falling 40.2% in value to $675.5 million. 7-month exports slumped 44.2% to 5.3mt and 51.1% to $4.6 billion.

July imports rose 16.1% to 1.5mt while falling 7.1% in value to $1.4 billion. January-July imports thus rose 22% to 11mt, while declining by 4.7% in value to $9.5 billion.

Consequently, due to the increase in imports and decrease in exports, the ratio of seven-month exports to imports slumped to 48:100 from 93.4:100 in January-July 2022.

“In the seven-month period, despite the increase in consumption, production declined, leading to an increase in the share of imports in domestic consumption. On the other hand, despite ongoing investments and newly commissioned capacities, the continued decline in crude steel production and exports in the first seven months of the year raised concerns,” says Yayan.

“Especially, the recent increase in wire rod imports which gained momentum in July and reached 93.3% in the seven-month period of the year, reveals the need for urgent measures,” concludes Yayan.