Turkey’s Yildiz to build a 4 million mt/year melt shop and a hot-rolling mill

Turkish coated coil producer Yildiz Demir Celik is planning to start hot-rolled coil production by building a melt shop with a liquid steel capacity of 4 million mt and a hot-rolling mill with a finished product capacity of 3.5 million mt, the company said in an official document submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization.

According to the document seen by S&P Global Platts, the facility which will be built in Kartepe, Kocaeli, western Turkey is scheduled to start production within 36 months.

An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process has started for Yildiz Demir Celik’s new mill project, the ministry said January 24. The project is expected to be accelerated following the EIA approval.

Yildiz Demir Celik’s cold-rolling mill complex in Kocaeli, western Turkey, started production on its new continuous pickling tandem line in late 2019, with an annual capacity of 1.5 million mt.

The company currently has a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year for HDG coil and 150,000 mt/year for pre-painted galvanized iron (PPGI), as well as 300,000 mt/year of cold-rolled coil.

The company is targeting to reach 900,000 mt/year of galvanizing capacity with a new line to be started in the coming months of the year.

Flat steel capacity in Turkey has been rising in recent years with new investments. Another coated coil producer, MMK Metalurji, the Turkey-based subsidiary of Russian steelmaker Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), started hot rolled coil production at its EAF facility with a casting and rolling module in July 2021.

Tosyali Demir Celik, one of Turkey’s largest steel producers, is also currently building a new flat steel mill with a liquid steel capacity of 4.55 million mt.

As some other Turkish HRC producers started work to raise their HRC output, Turkey’s total HRC production capacity is expected to rise more than 9 million mt/year in the coming few years, while some new coated coil capacities are also on the way.

— Staff, Cenk Can