Turkey Moves Up In World Steel Industry

Turkey moved up to 11th place amng the world’s largest steel producing countries and to 3rd place in Europe because of the high performance of the Turkish steel industry.

Middle Eastern and Gulf countries are the main export destinations, with a share of 58% in Turkey’s total steel exports, followed by the EU region with a  share of 16%. In 2008, Turkish steel producers diverted their exports from the EU to the Middle East-Gulf Region.

Compared to the 2007 level, while the share of the EU in Turkey’s total steel exports declined from 33% to 16%, the share of Middle East and Gulf Region increased from 44% to 59%.  In 2008, total iron and steel exports to the USA  increased significantly compared to 2007.  The main export items to USA are steel pipes and tubes, hot rolled flat products, and wire rod.

After the global economic crisis which emerged in the USA in 2008 and continued in 2009, the “Buying American Act” was enacted by the US Government. With this act, the use of US Steel in public tenders was promoted by the Government. In addition to the Act,  anti-dumping and safeguard  investigations increased within this period. Despite the signals for increases in the global free market economy before the economic crisis, countries are now more protective against the highly competitive products to save and stabilize their domestic markets.

Turkey is the biggest importer of ferrous scrap in the world. In 2006 the Turkish steel industry consumed 16.5 million tons (mt) of scrap, of which it imported 15.07mt, 2.71mt of which – worth approximately $723 million – were sourced from the USA. USA scrap represents 18% of Turkey’s total scrap imports, and is growing: imports of USA scrap metal to Turkey in the first three quarters of 2007 was up 73% on import volumes for the same period the previous year.

ADVANTAGES OF THE TURKISH STEEL INDUSTRY
Competitive position of the Turkish steel industry is firmly built on:
- proximity to major markets, especially the Middle East and Europe.
- ample availability of skilled, low-cost manpower.
- efficient involvement and experienced entrepreneurs.
- modern infrastructure.
- up to date technology in existing facilities.
- International Quality Certificates.
These advantages alleviate threats and weaknesses which also significantly affect the competitiveness of Turkish steel industry, such as unfavorable access to raw materials, high energy costs and imbalance between flat/long product demand and installed capacities.

INVESTMENT SARK-WIRE CORP. TO NEW YORK STATE
Sarkuysan’s export sales, commenced in the 1980’s, have recorded great growth  over the past 29 years. In line with this, Sark-USA, Inc., a commercial corporation, was established in 2002 and Sark-Wire Corp., a manufacturing incorporation, was formed in 2008. Sark-Wire Corp will come into stream towards the end of 2009 in the Industrial Zone in Albany, the capital of the state of New York. The whole of its capital in the amount of $5,000,000 belongs to Sarkuysan and its sister companies. The investment amount is US$10,000,000 and when the investment project is completed, the plant will deliver its products to the US cable, transformer, motor and aerospace industries.