Turkey: Crude steel production up 6% in 2020

By Zeynep Duyar Canli

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey posted a 6% rise year-on-year in crude steel production in 2020, showed trade group data.

Turkey's crude steel production reached 35.8 million tons last year, according to data Anadolu Agency compiled from the Turkish Steel Producers' Association (TCUD).

It also jumped 17.7% in December compared to the same month of 2019 and hit 3.4 million tons.

On the other hand, the volume of steel product exports declined 5.5% on an annual basis to 16.6 million tons in 2020.

The country's revenue from steel exports also decreased 10.9% to $8.6 billion during the same period.

However, Turkey's steel export in December rose 22.1% to 1.8 million tons, reaching $983 million.

Steel imports hit 12.5 million tons in 2020, up 4.5% year-on-year, while they declined 2.9% in value to $7.7 billion over the same period.

Veysel Yayan, the secretary-general of the Turkish Iron and Steel Producers' Association, said Turkey is ranked first in Europe and seventh in the world with 35.8 million tons of crude steel production.

Stating that the sector closed 2020 with an increase in production despite the contractionary effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the obstacles caused by the measures in export markets, Yayan said: "We expect that 2021 will be better than 2020, if the impact of the pandemic decreases and protection measures are relaxed."

The TCUD predicts that the increase in domestic production and consumption will surpass the 2017 level by compensating the losses in the last two years, he added.