The opening speeches were delivered by Cem Öztüre, Founder and Chairman of SteelRadar, and Feyyaz Yazar, Member of the Executive Board of İzmir Demir Çelik (İDÇ). Cem Öztüre talked about the history of SteelRadar, the organizer of Steel Summit under the roof of Öztüre Holding, from past to present. He noted that as SteelRadar, our goal is to stay in instant communication with the market and to be an honest and accurate platform without speculation.
Speaking about the difficulties faced by decision makers, Öztüre stated; "Decision makers are like the pilot looking at the indicators in the cockpit of the airplane. He must keep an eye on the markets. Only price is not effective for decision making. Raw material stocks, finished goods stocks are one of the factors for decision making. The decision maker has to make critical decisions 300 days a year. It is very difficult to measure the performance of the decision maker. Management should both trust and follow up. For this, platforms such as ours shed some light on decision-makers."
Feyyaz Yazar started his speech by mentioning the history of İzmir Demir Çelik and shared the following information:
"As İzmir Demir Çelik, our crude steel production capacity is 3 million 100 thousand tons, our construction steel production capacity is 1 million 400 thousand tons, and our common profile capacity is 400 thousand tons with our latest investment that carries our production power further. With the joint profile rolling mill, we have a product range with high added value that is also preferred abroad. By producing billets and blooms in various sizes, we are trying to meet the needs of our rolling mills on the one hand and the domestic and foreign markets on the other. In addition, our port company, which has a handling capacity of 7 million 500 thousand tons, meets the energy needs of imported products with our 370 megawatt thermal power plant based on imported coal, and our renewable SPP investment of 150 megawatts in total, with 75 megawatts expected to be completed in a short time, continues rapidly. Our company and our subsidiaries continue to add value to our country and our people."
Making statements about the Turkish steel sector, he continued: "I would like to briefly touch upon some important points in the Turkish steel sector. As you know, the steel sector, which produced approximately 37 million tons of steel in our country in 2004, operated at 63% capacity. Imports of semi-finished products from abroad increased from 4.8 million tons to 7.12 million tons compared to the previous period and the increase was 48%. Export markets are shrinking. Tariffs imposed by US President Trump and imposed as cents. The divergence will continue to increase due to the tariffs we have recently started to apply. In addition to this, the additional costs of the European Union's Carbon Regulation Mechanism at the border, we can consider these as foreign effects in a way, but the reflection on the domestic market is of course different. There are also some negative regulations domestically, the most important of which is the rebar monitoring system called İDİS, which was introduced in 2024 for long products.Although it does not benefit the sector in any way, you have a cost of 2 dollars per ton due to labeling and dyeing, this 2 dollar cost is only the cost arising from labeling and dyeing. In addition, of course, labor costs and other costs are considered separately. Another important issue was the recall of a partial offer from an order brought for the sector regarding iron and steel products, which is around 50%, and this partial destruction has no benefit for the instructors and distributors. We are closely aware of the efforts of our association regarding these negativities. On the one hand, our sector faces brutal international competition, on the other hand, it struggles to be sustainable against negative practices in our country. Unfortunately, these and similar practices against our sector continue to increase. There is a feeling of negative discrimination against our sector. I believe that we can change this process. In this context, we must be like steel and stand firm. We, as the Turkish steel industry, must be one and act together."
Following the opening session, Dr. Veysel Yayan, Secretary General of the Turkish Steel Producers Association (TÇÜD), made a presentation titled “Macro Outlook of the Turkish Steel Industry and Development of the Sector”.
Mr. Mehmet Çakmur, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Manager of Kocaer Çelik, took the floor after Yayan and gave a presentation titled "Global Perspective on the Steel Market: Current Situation and Future Trends" and evaluated the international outlook of the sector.
Following the opening speeches, the summit continued with the scrap panel. During the two-day event, many current issues from scrap markets to green steel, from regional trade dynamics to investment strategies will be discussed.
Steel Summit 2025 aims to shed light on the present and future of the iron and steel industry.
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