Posted on 13 Nov 2019
Turkish Steel Producers Association (TCUD) General Secretary Veysel Yayan says Turkey has started to see positive developments in local steel consumption.
“In steel consumption, we have seen small signs of recovery in the July-September period after four quarters of a serious recession,” Yayan observes in a note seen by Kallanish.
Domestic steel consumption decreased in the first and second quarters by -38.7% and -24.9% respectively on-year. However, the decrease in Q3 was calculated as -9.4%, he notes.
“Economic measures taken by the government have played an important role in slowing the decline in consumption,” Yayan comments. “We saw the effects of economic stabilization measures in September, but they were not enough. These effects were felt more in October, especially in the sales of automobiles, households and home appliances. In other words, the positive developments in people's expectations for the future have enabled them to re-enter the market, considering credit facilities are attractive.”
“The contraction in demand, which was 9.4% in the third quarter, will improve in the last quarter of the year,” Yayan continues. “We think that the positive trend will continue as a faster recovery in the last quarter thanks to the improvement in interest rates and inflation.”
Turkey's crude steel production in January-September decreased -10.1% on-year to 25.3 million tonnes, while finished steel consumption dropped -25.8% to 18.9mt.
Exports in the nine months through September increased by 9.4% to 16.5mt. However, in terms of value they declined -2.3% to $12.2 billion.
Imports decreased -23.6% to 9.1mt, while the value of imports dropped -26.8% to $7.6 billion.
