Innotech Steel Founder and CEO Bekir Bayın stated that global trade is increasingly based on international cooperation and emphasized that Turkish steel producers acting together—especially in export markets—could create significant opportunities for the sector.
How do you evaluate the impact of recent geopolitical developments, particularly the war along the Iran–U.S.–Israel axis, on the steel industry?
In today’s world, 24 hours is a very long period of time. Events with major consequences can begin and end within a single day. For this reason, companies must have long-term visions and strategies aligned with them. In the past 10 days, the Iran–U.S.–Israel war began and is probably close to ending. Of course, it is difficult to predict exactly when such conflicts will occur (while it may be difficult to foresee the exact date, companies are expected to consider the possibility of such conflicts in their risk planning and prepare action plans accordingly). The transformation of the Middle East will continue.
Across the region, acting in a balanced and rational manner with countries such as Libya, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, the UAE, and Israel/U.S. could create significant opportunities for both our country and our sector in the future. While we cannot know the future with certainty, we can anticipate potential developments and plan accordingly. Ultimately, we must align our short-, medium-, and long-term plans with our vision while anticipating periodic risks and focusing on our business.
How are movements in energy prices affecting the sector?
Energy prices, which rose with the war, began to fall as quickly as they had risen following a statement by the Russian President extending an olive branch to Europe overnight. However, even in the best-case scenario, energy prices may only return to the averages seen in previous months after some time—possibly by the end of summer—provided the war ends.
Even today, European energy prices are nearly twice the average levels of 2025. Europe has once again realized the importance of accelerating its investments in renewable energy. In fact, even before the war, Europe had begun strengthening bilateral agreements—particularly with China—to accelerate renewable energy investments, and the importance of these agreements has now become even clearer.
As a country dependent on energy imports, we must also accelerate investments to reduce our costs, advance in Green Steel, and decrease our reliance on imports.
In fact, investments by our companies in renewable energy are already increasing. However, particularly in this period—when financing challenges and cost pressures are high—I believe the government should provide incentives to companies for long-term investments in renewable energy, green steel production, and artificial intelligence technologies, which I believe are at least as important—if not more so—than these other areas.
How do you evaluate Türkiye’s anti-dumping decision?
The anti-dumping investigation started at the end of 2024, and nearly 15 months have passed since then. In such a fast-moving environment—where news flows change constantly—it is important for decisions to be reached more quickly.
The announced anti-dumping decision should be evaluated from two perspectives. First, its impact on end users will remain very limited, because previous measures had already significantly reduced CR/HDG material imports from China. Only thin-coated or painted products had continued to be sold due to their price advantage in China; this segment will now be completely cut off with the new 30% duty. With earlier duties already in place, about 95% of imports from China were entering under the inward processing regime.
However, I expect sales of HDG and CR materials from South Korea to be affected. Although the volumes may not appear large considering Türkiye’s capacity, they played a psychological role in determining price competition, and rerollers were influenced by alternative pricing and aggressive offers. With the newly imposed duties, it no longer seems possible for purchases from South Korea to remain at previous levels.
At this point, an important responsibility falls on our domestic producers. If they maintain a balanced price spread, users will prefer products manufactured in Türkiye. This applies to product groups that are already produced in Türkiye; however, specialized coated products such as alusi and aluzinc will likely continue to be imported from South Korea.
What are your views on the future of global trade and exports?
Global trade and exports are increasingly based on international cooperation. Producers in China, South Korea, the United States, and Europe largely conduct their trade through global trading companies. This structure allows the sector to act in a more coordinated and effective way in global markets.
For steel producers in Türkiye, joining forces across different regions could make it possible to achieve stronger and more sustainable export results. Acting through common platforms stands out as the most efficient approach, especially for companies with export ambitions.
As steel producers, we are going through a period in which it is essential to move forward with a shared vision and collective action.
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