Turkey’s Tosyali to reach 8.5 mil mt/year steel production capacity in Algeria with new plants

Tosyali Algerie, a subsidiary of one of Turkey’s largest steel producers, Tosyali Holding, recently started building a direct reduced iron plant with a production capacity of 2.5 million mt/year and a flat steel mill with 4 million mt/year capacity in Algeria, Tosyali said in a statement March 29.

The facilities are expected to come online within two years and take Tosyali Holding’s total steel production capacity in Algeria to 8.5 million mt/year from the current 4.2 million mt/year.

The company will focus on meeting automotive and white goods sectors’ steel demand, the statement said.

Tosyali Algerie has a 4 million mt/year iron ore pelletizing plant in Algeria to feed its direct reduction plants. The company’s iron ore beneficiation plant is also scheduled to come online in mid-April this year, according to a statement by Alp Topcuoglu, director of Tosyali Algerie.

Tosyali Algerie is currently producing long rebar and wire rod with a capacity of 3.8 million mt/year. It also started production at its 400,000 mt/year helical submerged arc welding pipe mill, Tosyali Algeria Pipe, in early 2019.

Tosyali Holding, which produced 2.28 million mt of direct reduced iron in 2021, is also continuing its investments in Turkey. The company is currently building a new flat steel mill with a capacity of 4.5 million mt/year in Iskenderun, southern Turkey.

Tosyali targets to reach total steel production capacity of 15 million mt/year with new investments both in Turkey and abroad in the coming five years, the company said.

Turkish mills’ flat and long steel prices jumped in March following the collapse of the supply chain from the Commonwealth of Independent States. Turkish rebar prices hit $965/mt on March 29, up more than $200 on the month, according to Platts assessment from S&P Global Insights. Turkish mills’ HRC prices also reached $1,295/mt on March 25, a $350 jump compared to mid- February, according to Platts assessments.

The latest investments announced by Tosyali and some other major Turkish long steel producers are expected to ease the local markets’ dependency on imports, especially in flat steel.

“Our new second DRI facility [in Algeria], which will have a production capacity of 2.5 million mt/year and the 4 million mt/year capacity flat steel facility to be placed in front of it, with its much lower carbon footprint, will be one of the best practices in the world steel industry,” Fuat Tosyali, chairman of Tosyali Holding said.

— Cenk Can