Turkish steel exports continue to be slow, and there have been new calls to align output with demand. The chairman of Istanbul Iron & Steel Exporters Association, Serdar Kocturk, states: “ Turkey is an important player in the rebar production of the world, and has a say in the rebar supply. The only thing to do in this situation is to decrease the production."
Speaking to Steel Business Briefing, he adds: "Not Turkey alone, but the whole world’s steel production should further decrease. In October the total steel production was down to 100m tonnes from 120m t at May’s peak levels, and still 20% more decrease is necessary to balance the low demand. Then the supply might meet a reasonable amount of demand.”
Kocturk continues: “the price policy of Turkish rebar sales was not coordinated well enough to consider the approaching global recession. The slowdown in demand was too sudden; it might have been softer if the Turkish exporters had set a balance between UAE market and the other markets, and kept exporting to these other markets for lower prices.”
For the Turkish domestic market, Kocturk emphasizes the importance of the public construction projects and states: “the government should support the real economy and increase the public investments; this crisis might be a good opportunity to benefit from the low prices of construction materials”