Turkish demand for crude steel expected to fall in 2024, 2025

ISTANBUL

Demand for crude steel in Türkiye is expected to decline by 5.5 percent in 2024, compared with the previous year to 36 million tons, according to the World Steel Association (worldsteel).

Demand will drop by another 1.4 percent year-on-year in 2025 to 35.5 million tons, the association said in its Short Range Outlook report.

Demand for crude steel in Türkiye surged 17.2 percent in 2023 from 2022 to 38.1 million tons.

Wordsteel forecasts that this year global steel demand will drop further by 0.9 percent to 1.75 billion tons after shrinking 0.8 percent in 2023.

Global demand will pick up 1.2 percent next year, according to the association.

The year “2024 has been a difficult year for global steel demand as the global manufacturing sector continued to grapple with persistent headwinds such as declining household purchasing power, aggressive monetary tightening, and escalating geopolitical uncertainties,” commented Martin Theuringer, chair of the worldsteel economics committee.

“The ongoing weakness in housing construction, which is driven by tight financing conditions and high costs, has further contributed to the sluggish demand for steel,” he added.

All those conditions which Theuringer says are impacting demand also apply to Türkiye.

In Türkiye, the annual inflation declined to 49.3 percent last month, but the government expects inflation to continue to fall in the coming months.

The monetary tightening has been in place since June last year with the Turkish Central Bank’s policy interest rate currently at 50 percent.

Demand in the housing market has been weak throughout 2024. Home sales saw year-on-year decline in five months between January and August.