Demand for flat steel products in Turkey was weak in August because of the seasonal summer slowdown as well as falling prices, market participants have told Fastmarkets.
And local producers have now filled their order books until late October, they said on Thursday September 5.Turkish steel prices increased on May 17 after the import duty into the United States, which was applied at a rate of 50% in September 2018, was cut back to the previous level of 25%.But there was not enough demand to support these price increases, and the Turkish export markets were also slow in August because of summer holiday absences. Global price falls also resulted in lower prices for Turkish flat steel.Crude steel outputTurkey produced 19.919 million tonnes of crude steel in January-July 2019, down from 22.184 million tonnes in the corresponding period of last year, according to the Turkish Steel Producers Association (T???oeD).Billet production was 12.347 million tonnes over the half-year, down from 14.833 million tonnes a year earlier.Slab production, however, rose to 7.573 million tonnes the first seven months of 2019,...