Most large steel producers in southern Turkiye that stopped output after major earthquakes hit the region a month ago have gradually resumed activities.
All but one of a dozen steel mills in the towns of Iskenderun and Osmaniye which make up a third of Turkiye’s steel production capacity have restarted operations, said Veysel Yayan, secretary-general of the Turkish Steel Producers Association. He added that the region’s largest mill, Iskenderun Demir ve Celik AS, will probably come online at the end of this week.
“By mid-March all of them will be operational, as we expected when the earthquakes hit the region,” Yayan said by telephone.
The twin earthquakes on Feb. 6 that killed more than 50,000 people in Turkiye and Syria didn’t cause any damage at the steel production lines, according to Yayan. But plants were closed because staff were impacted.
Turkiye is among the world’s top 10 producers and exporters of steel, and is likely to see higher domestic demand as rebuilding efforts progress after the deadliest temblors in almost a century.
Steelmakers elsewhere in Turkiye have already boosted output to make up for the loss from the quake-hit region, which will likely push capacity utilization rates to almost 70% in Turkiye this year from 63.7% in 2022, according to the steel producers association.
“I think national steel output in March will be more than half of the same month last year and April production will be higher year on year,” Yayan said.