Turkish steel consumption hopes rise for 2020 in demand rebound

Turkey’s steel consumption may have turned a corner after a rebound in demand at the beginning of the fourth quarter, according to the latest available data.

Turkish Steel Producers Association (TCUD) figures published this week, showed that domestic steel consumption rose 34% year on year in October.

“This has raised recovery expectations for the coming months as well as for 2020,” TCUD said.

Turkish mills — which reduced their capacity usage notably in previous months — have started to ramp up activity, leading to stronger market sentiment and higher steel prices. Koc Metalurji — which stopped production late September due to a sluggish market — restarted output on December 1.

Despite the recovery in October, Turkey’s overall steel consumption in the first ten months fell by 21.5% on year to 21.5 million mt, TCUD data showed. Flats consumption declined by 8.4% on year over the same period to 12.6 million mt. Longs consumption slumped by 34.6% to 8.9 million mt, amid a construction sector crisis, according to the data.

Turkey’s overall finished steel output was also down by 15.8% year on year to 27.6 million mt. Turkey’s longs production declined by 22.3% to 16.4 million mt and flats output fell by 3.9% to 11.2 million mt in the same period.

Turkish mills have focused more on exports and managed to increase their overall steel export volumes by 6.4% year on year to 18.5 million mt in January-October, TCUD noted.