London, September 24th (Argus) - Driven by the investment wave of foreign stainless steel producers, Turkey has transformed from a large importer of stainless steel semi-finished products to a global processing center for stainless steel. The country is seeking to protect its domestic stainless steel industry by imposing various anti-dumping taxes on imported cold-rolled materials.
Based on apparent consumption, China, India, the European Union, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey are the world's eight largest consumers of stainless steel. Turkey is the only country among them without the capacity for stainless steel smelting, relying entirely on imported sheet and semi-finished products to meet domestic and export demands.
According to Argus data, after recovering from the earthquake in February 2023, Turkey's apparent consumption of stainless steel in 2024 was 741,000 tons, an increase of 23% compared to the previous year.
The export volume of rolled stainless steel in Turkey decreased from approximately 120,000 tons in 2023 and 230,000 tons in 2022 to slightly over 1 million tons in 2024. The sharp decline in exports can also be attributed to the increase in local stainless steel consumption after the earthquake in 2023.
Foreign investment in new stainless steel facilities is one of the main factors helping Turkey reduce its reliance on imported stainless steel finished products.
Assan TST of Korea Steelmaker POSCO is the largest cold-rolled stainless steel producer in Turkey. Since its commissioning in July 2013, the plant has produced over 2 million tons of stainless steel. YC INOX, a Taiwan stainless steel tube producer, began production of 4,000 tons per month in Turkey in 2022 and became the only producer in the country with sorting capabilities, using hot-rolled semi-finished products as raw materials.
With the promotion of foreign and local company investments, Turkey's further processing capacity for stainless steel products will continue to increase in the coming years.
Yongjin Technology, a Chinese stainless steel producer, plans to build a cold-rolled plant with an annual capacity of 400,000 tons in Turkey. Yongjin said in March this year that the new factory in the industrial zone of the Mechanical Professional Organization in Yalova is expected to be completed in 2027.
The large steel processing center in Turkey, Saritas Celik Sanayi ve Ticaret AS, plans to build an annual stainless steel facility of 800,000 tons in four stages. The company said in May that the first two stages of the project will have a cold-rolling capacity of 400,000 tons per year and are expected to start production in 2027.
To protect its growing capacity, Ankara has imposed heavier import tariffs on certain stainless steel products and has begun anti-dumping investigations on the import of more stainless steel products. The Turkish Ministry of Trade began an investigation in June 2024 after receiving complaints from POSCO and Saritas Celik Anonim Sirketi.
Turkey imposes anti-dumping duties on cold-rolled stainless steel coil plates imported from Indonesia and China. The duty was extended for five years on June 23rd, with the rate for Chinese producers being 20.5%, for Foshan Vinmay Stainless Steel at 13.82%, and for Taiwanese producers at 11.5%. YC INOX and Froch Enterprise are expected to impose a 7.98% duty on these products.
