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IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY REPORT (2020)

In order for our country's main metal industry, especially iron and steel, to maintain and even increase its competitiveness until 2050, within the framework of developments in the world, to create new markets and products, and to become one of the technology leaders in the world, our Ministry continues with new projects that take the pulse of the sector.

As of 2019, the Turkish Steel Industry ranks 8th in the world and 2nd among steel producers in Europe after Germany. This ranking shows that Turkey maintains its position in which it was resettled in 2016. The revival in the global economy and domestic consumption since the second half of 2016 continued in 2017 as well. Although there was a 0.6% contraction in 2018, a 9.6% contraction was experienced in the sector in 2019 as a result of the continuation of the protectionism policies initiated by the USA in 2019 in the EU and other countries and the stagnation in the economy.

The steel industry, which produced 33.7 million tons of liquid steel in 2019 and reached a Capacity Utilization Rate of 71.8%, is the largest steel producer in Europe after the Middle East, North Africa and Germany, despite everything. The sector currently employs 45,000 people. The iron and steel industry is a locomotive industry that provides input to other industries. However, a decrease is observed in production and export figures for the first 4 months of 2020.

The main metal sector, led by the iron-steel sector and mainly included in the NACE 24 activity classification, includes the actors of the Steel pipe, Casting, Aluminum, Copper, Galvanization sector; It provides basic inputs and raw materials to the Machinery, Automotive, Electronics, Chemistry, Defense, Aviation, Mining and Transportation sectors.

COVID-19, which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and negatively affected the whole world, naturally also affected the basic metal and pressure equipment sector, which has economic importance. The sectors in which the basic metal sector is used directly or indirectly as an input or as an intermediate were also adversely affected by this situation.

However, despite all these negativities, we have a deficit of approximately 3 billion 900 million dollars in basic metal (iron and non-ferrous metals) products in foreign trade with the world, and we have a foreign trade surplus in iron and steel products, including only steel pipe products, and nickel and nickel goods products. Our country, which is the second largest steel producer in Europe after Germany and the 8th largest in the world, stands out as a remarkable situation.

T.R. You can reach the full report of the Iron and Steel Industry Report (2020) of the Ministry of Industry and Technology here.