Demand for flat steel products in Turkey was weak in March because of the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday April 2.
The first case of a Covid-19 infection was announced on March 11 in Turkey, and all schools were closed on March 15.
Since then,
several carmakers in the country have announced production stoppages.
Tofas, which produced 264,196 vehicles in 2019, stopped automotive production on April 2 for a period of two weeks and will instead produce health equipment to combat the pandemic.
In addition to the decreasing consumption among end-users of flat steel in Turkey, steel output will be limited in April.
Colakoglu's flat steel production division will shut down for maintenance on April 13-25. The company has capacity for 4.5 million tonnes per year of hot-rolled coil production.
Iskenderun Iron & Steel (Isdemir), a company belonging to the Erdemir Group, will also have a maintenance break of more than three weeks at its biggest blast furnace next month. The exact timing of the stoppage has not...