Press Release August 2025

STEEL PRODUCTION

In August 2025, Turkey's crude steel production increased by 7.9% compared to the same month last year, reaching 3.4 million tons.
In the January-August period, production increased by 0.2%, reaching 24.9 million tons.

STEEL CONSUMPTION

Final product consumption in August 2025 increased by 12.5% compared to the same month in 2024, reaching 3.5 million tons.
In the January-August period, final product consumption increased by 3.2%, reaching 25.7 million tons.

FOREIGN TRADE

Export

In August 2025, steel product exports increased by 6.8% in terms of quantity compared to the same month in 2024, reaching 1.2 million tons, while in terms of value, it decreased by 1.2%, amounting to 831.2 million dollars.
In the January-August period, steel product exports increased by 12.8% in terms of quantity compared to the same period in 2024, reaching 10 million tons, while in terms of value, it increased by 4.4%, amounting to 6.8 billion dollars.

Import

In August 2025, steel product imports increased by 18.6% in terms of quantity compared to the same month in 2024, reaching 1.6 million tons, while in terms of value, it increased by 2.9%, amounting to 1.1 billion dollars.
In the January-August period, steel product imports increased by 17.9% in terms of quantity compared to the same period in 2024, reaching 12.6 million tons, while in terms of value, it increased by 3.6%, amounting to 8.8 billion dollars.

Foreign Trade Balance

In the January-August period of 2024, the export-to-import coverage ratio was 76.4%, which increased to 77% in the same period of 2025.

WORLD STEEL PRODUCTION

According to the August 2025 data announced by the World Steel Association (worldsteel), global crude steel production increased by 0.3% compared to the same month last year, reaching 145.3 million tons, while in the January-August period, it decreased by 1.7% compared to the previous period, reaching 1.2 billion tons.
In the January-August period, China's crude steel production decreased by 2.8% compared to the same period last year, falling to 671.8 million tons, while India's crude steel production, which ranks second, increased by 10.2%, reaching 108.9 million tons. The United States increased its production by 1.6%, reaching 54.5 million tons, becoming the third-largest producer after a long time.

EVALUATION

In August 2025, Turkey's crude steel production increased by 7.9%, the highest rate of the year, compared to the same month last year, reaching 3.4 million tons.
The average import from China exceeded 500,000 tons per month in recent months. Considering China's potential to increase this import exponentially, the importance of the issue becomes clearer. Imports from the Russian Federation increased by 71% in the first 8 months of 2025. On the other hand, imports from India increased by 83% in the first 8 months of the year, with an increase rate of 577% in the last three months. It was observed that a large portion of the total imports were realized under the Inward Processing Regime (IPR). In the January-August period, 59% of the 12.6 million tons of steel product imports in our steel sector; 75.7% of the 5.6 million tons of semi-product imports were realized under the IPR. When classified by countries, 95.5% of imports from Russia; 81.9% of imports from China; 81.4% of imports from India were realized under the IPR.
In an environment where the Turkish steel sector can only utilize 62.7% of its 60 million-ton capacity, this rapid increase in imports has caused serious discomfort in the sector. It is evaluated that directing the profits obtained by efficiently operating the capacities established with extraordinary resource allocations to investments targeting the production of higher value-added products can only be possible by limiting uncontrolled imports.
In this context, on September 16, 2025, the Ministry of Trade's circular on Mining, Metal, and Forest products, which mandates that 25% of exports of certain products be sourced domestically to reduce IPR-related imbalances, is considered a positive step, and it is deemed beneficial to expand this practice to cover all sectors using steel products.
Depending on the results obtained from the implementation of this decision, which was enacted by our Ministry of Trade considering the negative picture in foreign trade, further steps may be taken. As in the USA and the EU, maintaining the foreign trade balance will emerge as a fundamental goal in the subsequent process. Establishing the current balance, reducing deficits, and, if possible, achieving a surplus is of vital importance for the Turkish economy. To achieve this goal, it is of great importance to minimize the external dependency of organizations that carry out imports with export commitments under the IPR in their input supply.