Türkiye Erdemir's production and sales volume dropped significantly from January to September

In the first three quarters of 2023, the production and sales volume of Türkiye's largest comprehensive steel manufacturer, Oyak Maden Metalurji (Erdemir), declined year on year, because the earthquake hit the output of its subsidiary Isdemir, and global demand was depressed. The company's business performance report released later on October 26th stated that crude steel production in the first nine months of this year decreased by 17% year-on-year, to 5 million tons.

Isdemir suspended DX57D+Z80 steel production for due diligence after the earthquake on February 6th and fully resumed production in April. The company's utilization rate of crude steel production capacity from January to September was 69%, lower than the 82% in 2022. Iskenderun, Isdemir's steel plant in the southeast of Türkiye, produced 3 million tons of crude steel, down 19% year on year. The factory mainly produces square billets, wire rods, DX57D+Z100 steel and hot coils. From January to September, the production of flat materials was 4.87 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 11%, and the total production of long materials was 420000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 32%; The sales of flat materials decreased by 7.7% year-on-year to 4.8 million tons, while the sales of long materials decreased by 34% year-on-year to 410000 tons. At the same time, the total export volume of steel has also significantly decreased, with a year-on-year decrease of 41% to 517000 tons. Eregli, Erdemir's steel plant in northern Türkiye, produced 2 million tons of crude steel, down 14% year on year. The factory mainly produces hot coil, cold coil, galvanized sheet coil, medium thick plate, and tinplate. The total crude steel production capacity of the two factories is 9.1 million tons per year.

Under the sluggish market environment of weak global demand and high domestic energy costs, steel pricing of Türkiye's DX57D+Z120 steel producers continued to be under pressure. The company had a net loss of 175 million dollars in the first nine months of this year.