Turkey’s crude steel production surged by 14.8pct YoY, reaching 24.8 mln tons in the first eight months of 2024, according to data from the Turkish Steel Producers’ Association (TCUD). In August 2024 alone, production saw a nearly 14pct YoY increase, amounting to 3.1 mln tons.
Turkey’s finished steel consumption in August 2024 rose by 7.8pct YoY to 3.1 mln tons. Over the January-August period, however, finished steel consumption dropped by 4.7pct YoY to 24.9 mln tons, signaling some demand challenges in the market.
Turkish steel exports climbed by 11.8pct YoY in August to 1.2 mln tons, while the export value increased by 9.3pct YoY, totaling USD 844.7 mln. For the January-August period, the volume of steel exports jumped by nearly 40pct YoY to 8.9 mln tons, with the value surging by 22.8pct YoY to USD 6.5 bln.
Meanwhile, steel imports into Turkey slightly decreased, with August imports dropping by 0.7pct YoY to 1.3 mln tons and import value declining 9.2pct YoY to USD 1 bln. Over the first eight months of the year, imports saw a more significant decrease, down 13.3pct YoY to 10.7 mln tons, with the value falling 19.7pct YoY to USD 8.5 bln.
TCUD highlighted that in August, Turkey moved up to 7th place globally in crude steel production, with a 13.9pct rise, surpassing Germany once again, a position it had reclaimed earlier in January. However, despite this strong performance in August, Turkey ranked 8th in the overall January-August period, trailing Germany by 562,000 tons. TCUD also noted that August marked the first monthly rise in steel consumption since February, with a 7.8pct increase to 3 mln tons.
In terms of exports by region, Turkish steel exports to the EU rose sharply by 104pct during the eight-month period, reaching 3.3 mln tons, the highest level since the record-breaking 3.5 mln tons in 2021. Exports to the CIS countries also showed robust growth, increasing by 59pct to 534,900 tons, driven by demand for long products, particularly from Ukraine, in the aftermath of the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
As a result of a 22.8pct increase in the value of total steel product exports and a 19.7pct drop in imports, the export-import coverage ratio improved significantly, rising from 49.9pct in the first eight months of 2023 to 76.5pct during the same period in 2024.
