Demand for flat steel in Turkey improved in May especially in the export market, after the United States halved its import tariffs for Turkish steel to 25%, market participants told Fastmarkets.
And local producers have now filled their order books until August, they said on Friday May 31. Turkish steel prices also began to increase from May 17, when the US duties were cut from the 50% rate introduced in August 2018.Some Turkish flat steel producers did not accept any new orders from May 17 to May 22, but most prices increased because of the expectation that exports would rise. Crude steel output Turkey produced 11,233,000 tonnes of crude steel in January-April 2019, 10.5% less than the 12,548,000 tonnes produced in January-April 2018, according to the Turkish Steel Producers' Association (TCUD). Billet production was 6.887 million tonnes in January-April 2019, 19.1% down on the 8.511 million tonnes produced in the first four months of 2018. Slab production, however, reached 4.346 million tonnes in the first four months of 2019, up by 7.60% year-on-year compared with 4.037 million tonnes produced in January-April 2018, according to TCUD data. The fall in overall crude stell output was largely due to...