Türkiye's steel production surges amid concerns over rising Chinese imports

On September 3, 2024, the Turkish Steel Producers Association (Türkiye Çelik Üreticileri Derneği, TCUD) released a report outlining key developments in the country’s steel production and trade. According to TCUD, Türkiye's crude steel production increased by 4% in July 2024 compared to the same month in the previous year, reaching 3.1 million tons. Between January and July 2024, total production surged by 14.9%, reaching 21.7 million tons.

However, domestic steel consumption showed a contrasting trend. In July, consumption of final products fell by 19.4% year-over-year, and from January to July 2024, it dropped by 6.3%, totaling 21.8 million tons. This highlights a growing imbalance between production and consumption.

Türkiye's steel trade highlights: significant export growth, declining imports

On the trade front, Türkiye’s steel exports saw robust growth. In July, exports increased by 48.7% in volume to 1.3 million tons, while export value rose by 35.7%, reaching $903.2 million. From January to July, exports grew by 45.3% in volume and 25.1% in value, totaling 7.7 million tons and $5.7 billion, respectively. In contrast, imports declined significantly. In July, steel imports dropped by 24% in volume and 29.6% in value. Over the first seven months of 2024, imports decreased by 14.8% in volume and 21% in value.

Despite the overall drop in imports, the TCUD expressed concern over the increasing volume of steel imports from China.

Rising concern over Chinese steel imports

"Türkiye imported 396,000 tons of steel products from China in 2020, but this figure grew exponentially to 1.9 million tons in 2022 and 3.3 million tons in 2023. As many countries are implementing measures to protect their domestic markets against China, Türkiye must take similar steps to prevent the country from becoming an open market. This is vital not only for the steel industry but also for reducing the foreign trade deficit and the current account imbalance," the TCUD stated.

Türkiye's strong performance against global trends

The TCUD emphasized Türkiye's outperformance in global steel production as a key point of pride. While global crude steel production fell by 4.7% in July 2024, Türkiye bucked the trend, increasing its crude steel output by 4%, reaching 3.1 million tons. For the January to July 2024 period, global production decreased by 0.7%, largely due to a 2.2% decline in China’s output. In contrast, Türkiye saw a remarkable 14.9% increase, producing 21.7 million tons over the same period. This positioned Türkiye as the second-fastest-growing steel producer among the world's top 15 steel-producing nations, behind only Vietnam.

Picture by Shvets Anna, Pexels

You might be interested in reading:
Italian steel industry: €63.5 million investment program approved in the Northeast
Nations of metal: who tops the charts in raw steel and copper production?