Colakoglu postpones May maintenance in a tight market

One of Turkey’s largest steel producers, Colakoglu, which was planning to pause output in May for maintenance work, has postponed its plans to meet its customers’ demand in a tight market, Ugur Dalbeler, CEO of the company, told Platts April 20.

“We have decided to postpone the maintenance to not leave our customers in a difficult situation while a material shortage is dominating the market,” Dalbeler said.

Turkish mills’ hot-rolled coil offer prices for August rollings have been rising continuously amid availability issues, higher HRC pricing globally and strong export demand. Mills’ HRC offers reached as high as $1,070-$1,100/mt ex-works in recent days, while their export offers reached $1,050/mt FOB and above.

Colakoglu has decided to raise its HRC output capacity by 50% with a new annealing furnace investment.

The company’s HRC production capacity will reach 4.5-5.0 million mt with this investment as of the second quarter of 2022.

The company will also soon start to produce special steel steel grades at world’s largest VOD (vacuum oxygen decarburization) plant. Colakoglu will be able to produce special steels like IF grades, ULC grades and stainless steels at this plant.

Colakoglu is one of Turkey’s largest steel producers, with bar output capacity of 1 million mt/year and current HRC production capacity of 3 million mt/year.

— Cenk Can